Hundreds of world leaders, powerful politicians, billionaires, celebrities, religious leaders and drug dealers have been hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront property, yachts and other assets for the past quarter-century, according to a review of nearly 12 million files obtained from 14 firms located around the world.
The by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists involved 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries. It's being dubbed the 鈥淧andora Papers" because the findings shed light on the previously hidden dealings of the elite and the corrupt, and how they have used offshore accounts to shield assets collectively worth trillions of dollars.
The more than 330 current and former politicians identified as beneficiaries of the secret accounts include Jordan鈥檚 King Abdullah II, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso, and associates of both Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The billionaires called out in the report include Turkish construction mogul Erman Ilicak and , the former CEO of software maker Reynolds & Reynolds.
Many of the accounts were designed to evade taxes and conceal assets for other shady reasons, according to the report.
鈥淭he new data leak must be a wake-up call,鈥� said Sven Giegold, a Green party lawmaker in the European Parliament. 鈥淕lobal tax evasion fuels global inequality. We need to expand and sharpen the countermeasures now.鈥�
Oxfam International, a British consortium of charities, applauded the Pandora Papers for exposing brazen examples of greed that deprived countries of tax revenue that could be used to finance programs and projects for the greater good.
鈥淭his is where our missing hospitals are," Oxfam said 鈥淭his is where the pay-packets sit of all the extra teachers and firefighters and public servants we need. Whenever a politician or business leader claims there is 鈥榥o money鈥� to pay for climate damage and innovation, for more and better jobs, for a fair post-COVID recovery, for more overseas aid, they know where to look."
The Pandora Papers are a follow-up to a similar project released in 2016 called the 鈥淧anama Papers" compiled by the same journalistic group.
The latest bombshell is even more expansive, porting through nearly 3 terabytes of data 鈥� the equivalent of roughly 750,000 photos on a smartphone 鈥� leaked from 14 different service providers doing business in 38 different jurisdictions in the world. The records date back to the 1970s, but most of the files span from 1996 to 2020.
In contrast, the Panama Papers culled through 2.6 terabytes of data leaked by one now-defunct law firm called Mossack Fonseca that was located in the country that inspired that project's nickname.
The latest investigation dug into accounts registered in familiar offshore havens, including the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Hong Kong and Belize. But some of the secret accounts were also scattered around in trusts set up in the U.S., including 81 in 麻豆视频 Dakota and 37 in Florida.
Some of the initial findings released Sunday painted a sordid picture of the prominent people involved.
For instance, the investigation found advisers helped King Abdullah II of Jordan set up at least three dozen shell companies from 1995 to 2017, helping the monarch buy 14 homes worth more than $106 million in the U.S. and the U.K. One was a $23 million California ocean-view property bought in 2017 through a British Virgin Islands company. The advisers were identified as an English accountant in Switzerland and lawyers in the British Virgin Islands.
There was no immediate comment from Jordan鈥檚 Royal Palace.
The details are an embarrassing blow to Abdullah, whose government was engulfed in scandal this year when his half brother, former Crown Prince Hamzah, accused the 鈥渞uling system鈥� of corruption and incompetence. The king claimed he was the victim of a 鈥渕alicious plot,鈥� placed his half brother under house arrest and put two former close aides on trial.
U.K attorneys for Abdullah said he isn鈥檛 required to pay taxes under his country鈥檚 law and hasn鈥檛 misused public funds, adding that there are security and privacy reasons for him to have holdings through offshore companies, according to the report. The attorneys also said most of the companies and properties are not connected to the king or no longer exist, though they declined to provide details.
Blair, U.K. prime minister from 1997 to 2007, became the owner of an $8.8 million Victorian building in 2017 by buying a British Virgin Islands company that held the property, and the building now hosts the law firm of his wife, Cherie Blair, according to the the investigation. The two bought the company from the family of Bahrain鈥檚 industry and tourism minister, Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani. Buying the company shares instead of the London building saved the Blairs more than $400,000 in property taxes, the investigation found.
The Blairs and the al-Zayanis both said they didn鈥檛 initially know the other party was involved in the deal, the probe found. Cherie Blair said her husband wasn鈥檛 involved in the purchase, which she said was meant to bring 鈥渢he company and the building back into the U.K. tax and regulatory regime.鈥� She also said she did not want to own a British Virgin Islands company and that the 鈥渟eller for their own purposes only wanted to sell the company,鈥� which is now closed.
A lawyer for the al-Zayanis said they complied with U.K. laws.
Khan, the Pakistani prime minister, is not accused of any wrongdoing. But members of his inner circle, including Finance Minister Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin, are accused of hiding millions of dollars in wealth in secret companies or trusts, according to the journalists' findings.
In a tweet, Khan vowed to recover the 鈥渋ll-gotten gains鈥� and said his government will look into all citizens mentioned in the documents and take action, if needed.
The consortium of journalists revealed Putin's image-maker and chief executive of Russia's leading TV station, Konstantin Ernst, got a discount to buy and develop Soviet-era cinemas and surrounding property in Moscow after he directed the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Ernst told the organization the deal wasn't secret and denied suggestions he was given special treatment.
In 2009, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis put $22 million into shell companies to buy a chateau property in a hilltop village in Mougins, France, near Cannes, the investigation found. The shell companies and the chateau were not disclosed in Babis鈥� required asset declarations, according to documents obtained by the journalism group鈥檚 Czech partner, Investigace.cz.
A real estate group owned indirectly by Babis bought the Monaco company that owned the chateau in 2018, the probe found.
鈥淚 was waiting for them to bring something right before the election to harm me and influence the Czech election,鈥� Babis tweeted in his first reaction to the report.
The Czech Republic parliamentary election is being held on Friday and Saturday.
鈥淚鈥檝e never done anything illegal or wrong,鈥� Babis added.
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Liedtke reported from San Ramon, California, and Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers Karel Janicek in the Czech Republic, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, John Rice in Mexico City, Kathy Gannon in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Felicia Fonseca in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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This story was first published on October 4, 2021. It was updated on October 5, 2021 to remove a photo with a caption that erroneously identified Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as one of 330 current and former politicians who reportedly benefitted from secret accounts. The report identified Khan鈥檚 associates as beneficiaries, but not Khan himself.
Michael Liedtke And Jonathan Mattise, The Associated Press
