Many world leaders powerful celebrities, billionaires, politicians, and religious leaders, as well as drug dealers, have hidden their assets in mansions exclusive beachfront properties yachts, and other properties for the last quarter-century according to an analysis of over 12 million records that were obtained from 14 companies across the globe.
The report, released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism entailed more than 600 reporters from 150 outlets across 117 countries. The report is being called “the “Pandora Papers” due to the fact that the findings reveal previously unseen deals of the elite as well as the corrupt, and also how they’ve made use of offshore accounts to hide assets worth trillions of dollars.
The billionaires identified within the study include Turkish billionaires in the construction industry Erman Ilicak and Robert T. Brockman who was the former CEO of the software producer Reynolds & Reynolds. The accounts were created to avoid taxes and conceal assets to hide other reasons that are not clear according to the report.
Oxfam International, a British charity consortium, praised the Pandora Papers for exposing brazen instances of greed that have left countries without tax revenue which can be utilized to fund programs and projects that benefit the benefit of all.
“This is the place where our hospitals are not,” Oxfam said in the statement. “This will be where pay packets contain all the additional firefighters, teachers, and public servants that we require. If a politician or business leader says there’s no money to cover climate change or technological advancement in order to create more and better jobs, for reasonable post-COVID recovery and to increase aid overseas They know where to go.”
The latest revelation is vaster, with more than 3 terabytes of information — the equivalent to about 750,000 photos from smartphone leaks by 14 service companies who do business in 38 different countries around the globe. The files date from the 1970s, but the vast majority date from 1996 through 2020. The Pandora Papers, according to Forex news, is a follow-up to a similar initiative that was released in 2016 and dubbed “Panama Papers. “Panama Papers” which was compiled from the journalistic organization. First-look reports made public on Sunday presented a dismal image of some of the famous people implicated.
A BVI firm paid $23 million in 2017 for a California oceanfront home with a view. There were a British accountant in Switzerland and British Virgin Islands attorneys among the advisors.
A humiliating setback for Abdullah, whose administration was rocked earlier this year by allegations of corruption and ineptitude leveled against it by his half-brother, former Crown Prince Hamzah. To prove his innocence, King Rama VI put his half-brother under house arrest and put two former close associates on trial, accusing them of conspiring against him.
According to the article, Abdullah’s U.K. lawyers claim that he is not subject to taxation in the United Kingdom and has not misappropriated public money. They also claim that he has interests in offshore businesses for security and privacy reasons.
Following his tenure as U.K. prime minister (1997-2007), Tony Blair purchased a British Virgin Islands business that owned the property for $8.8 million in 2017. The property is now home to his wife Cherie Blair’s law practice, which is located in the building. The two acquired the business from the family of Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani, Bahrain’s minister of industry and tourism. According to the findings of the inquiry, the Blairs saved almost $400,000 in property taxes by purchasing business shares instead of the London building.
The business and the property were brought back into the UK tax and regulatory system,” Cherie Blair said. her husband, she said, was not a part of this acquisition. The seller intended to “sell the business” for “their own reasons alone,” and she didn’t want to be the owner of a BVI firm, she said. The company is now closed.
According to the al-Zayanis’ counsel, they followed all U.K. laws while in the country.
There are no allegations against Pakistani Prime Minister Khan. According to the journalists’ investigations, members of his closest circle, such as Finance Minister Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin, are suspected of concealing millions in hidden businesses or trusts.
When asked about the “ill-gotten riches,” Khan said that his administration will look into the papers and take measures if necessary to get them back.
According to the findings of the inquiry, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis invested $22 million through shell companies in 2009 to purchase a castle in the French hilltop town of Mougins near Cannes. According to papers acquired by Investigace.cz, the Czech partner of the journalistic group, Babis’ mandatory asset statements failed to reveal the shell firms and the chateau.
According to the investigation, Babis controlled a real estate company that acquired the chateau’s Monaco owner in 2018.
Babis’ first response to the news was to tweet, “I was waiting for them to present anything just before the election to damage me and affect the Czech election.”
