A report released on Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), dubbed the ‘Pandora Papers’, has implicated hundreds of world leaders, politicians, billionaires, celebrities, and religious leaders for secretly stashing their wealth in mansions, beachfront properties, yachts, and other assets through offshore havens.
The ICIJ report, which was put out by a network of reporters and media organisations, claims that the investigation “is the world’s largest-ever journalistic collaboration, involving more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries.” Among the hundreds of individuals exposed by the report, several prominent world leaders and celebrities have also been identified as beneficiaries of the secret accounts.
Notable individuals implicated in the investigation include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Czech PM Andrej Babiš, and former British PM Tony Blair. Furthermore, at least 380 Indians have been named in the Pandora Papers, including businessman Anil Ambani and former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
The report revealed that Russian President Putin is linked to several undisclosed assets in Monaco. The papers identified the buyer as Svetlana Krivonogikh, a woman closely associated with Putin. Additionally, it said that Konstantin Ernst, the chief of a leading Russian TV channel, “became a secret partner in a deal to buy 39 ageing but valuable Soviet-era cinemas and surrounding property from the city of Moscow.” It added, “The deal was financed by VTB Bank, a state-owned institution that has been referred to as Putin’s “piggy bank.”
The ICIJ report also revealed that Jordan’s King Abdullah II has created a network of offshore tax companies and amassed a $100 million property empire that spans from the United States to the United Kingdom. The report states that King Abdullah II “secretly owned 14 luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the United States, purchased between 2003 and 2017 through front companies registered in tax havens. Their value totals more than $106 million.”
The documents also allege that Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s inner circle, including family members, cabinet ministers, and military officers, for secretly owning a multitude of companies and trusts holding millions of dollars of hidden wealth.
The report has also said that several Indians have set up offshore entities in countries with loose tax regulations in an effort to evade taxes and potential investigations by agencies. For instance, it notes that Sachin Tendulkar and his family were prime beneficiaries of a British Virgin Islands-based company named Saas International. Furthermore, the report accuses Tendulkar of asking for the “liquidation of his entity” just three months after the 2016 Panama Papers exposé. Other prominent Indians implicated for hiding their assets include Reliance chairman Anil Ambani and Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
The ICIJ says that the report contains “2.94 terabytes of data” and an “unprecedented amount of information on so-called beneficial owners of entities registered in the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Hong Kong, Belize, Panama, South Dakota and other secrecy jurisdictions.” While the ICIJ exposed “a system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies” through the 2016 Panama Papers, the latest investigation is more expansive than the 2016 leaks.