(Washington Insider Magazine) -According to some of the preliminary results related to the Pandora Papers, many famous individuals involved were portrayed in a negative light. After the massive leak of papers that exposed the hidden financial transactions of the global elite, multiple international leaders came out to deny any misconduct. Here are the 10 most important findings that we know so far from the Pandora Papers.
In an effort to avoid being re-elected this week, the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babi, has been discovered to have purchased a chateau in the south of France by funneling money via a series of offshore businesses. He categorically rejects any misconduct.
It has been discovered that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, transferred his interests in an offshore business to a buddy only weeks before he was elected to the position. In response to an inquiry for comment, his spokesman said, “There will not be an answer”.
The Queen’s royal estate has started an internal investigation after it was discovered that it had paid £67 million to the family of Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, in order to purchase a portion of their London property portfolio, according to court documents. For more than two decades, the Aliyev family has ruled over Azerbaijan, which is considered to be one of the world’s most corrupt nations. Aliyev and his family did not reply to requests for comment when they were extended.
Cyprus’ president, Nicos Anastasiades, established a legal company that still retains his name, and the firm was reported to financial authorities by an offshore services provider who thought it had provided them with fake identities in order to conceal the assets of a notorious Russian billionaire. The president maintains that he has had nothing to do with the company for years, and the company categorically rejects any wrongdoing on its part.
According to the investigation, Tony Blair, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007, purchased a $8.8 million Victorian property in 2017 by acquiring a British Virgin Islands company that owned the property. The house is now home to the law firm of his wife, Cherie Blair. It seems that the couple saved about £300,000 in stamp duty costs. Nonetheless, there is no concrete evidence of criminal misconduct on the part of either the Blairs or the sellers, and the arrangement serves only to demonstrate how common the use of tax-avoidance offshore entities for high-value property transactions has become.
According to the documents, a Russian-born oil billionaire named Viktor Fedotov, whose business has made significant contributions to the Conservative Party, covertly co-owned a corporation that was previously suspected of engaging in a major corruption scheme. Fedotov said that he was too sick to speak, although he strongly rejects any misconduct.
The documents show the enormous hidden riches that exists within the closest circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Konstantin Ernst, Putin’s image-maker and executive chairman of Russia’s main TV station, received a discount to purchase and renovate Soviet-era theatres and surrounding land in Moscow. Ernst said to the organization that the transaction was not kept a secret and that he was not treated differently.
In the Pandora Papers, it seems that Moonis Elahi, Pakistan’s minister for water resources, withdrew from making investments via offshore tax havens after being told that his country’s tax authorities would be notified, according to the documents. A spokesperson for the business denied any misconduct on the part of the company and said that all legal disclosures had been made.
United Nations officials have revealed that Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, and his family had accumulated $30 million in offshore assets, including a London home. In the past, Kenyatta has called on all politicians to make their financial holdings public information. Requests for comment from the media were not returned.
Using offshore corporations, Jordanian King Abdullah al-Hussein has built a $100 million worldwide real estate empire, which he has kept secret. It is not illegal, according to his attorneys, for him to maintain an offshore portfolio of properties. However, the disclosure will be very sensitive in Jordan, where activists have already been jailed just for inquiring how much land the king owns.
