Paradise Papers
The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and a network of more than 380 journalists. Some of the details were made public on 5 November 2017 and stories are still being released.
A number of stories are appearing in a week-long expose of how politicians, multinationals, celebrities and high-net-worth individuals use complex structures to protect their cash from higher taxes.
The offshore financial affairs of hundreds of politicians, multinationals, celebrities and high-net-worth individuals, some of them household names, have been revealed. The papers also throw light on the legal firms, financial institutions and accountants working in the sector and on the jurisdictions that adopt offshore tax rules to attract money. These are the stories so far:
-Prince Charles campaigned to alter climate-change agreements without disclosing his private estate had an offshore financial interest in what he was promoting
-Apple has protected its low-tax regime by using the Channel Island of Jersey
-Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton avoided tax on his £16.5m luxury jet, the papers suggest
-The Queen’s private estate invested about £10m offshore including a small amount in the company behind BrightHouse, a chain accused of irresponsible lending
-One of President Donald Trump’s top administration officials kept a financial stake in a firm whose major partners include a Russian company part-owned by President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law
-An entrepreneur charged with managing the oil wealth of the struggling African state of Angola was paid more than $41m in just 20 months
-A Lithuanian shopping mall partly owned by U2 star Bono is under investigation for potential tax evasion
-How three stars of the hit BBC sitcom, Mrs Brown’s Boys, diverted more than £2m into an offshore tax-avoidance scheme
-One of the world’s largest firms loaned a businessman previously accused of corruption $45m and asked him to negotiate mining rights in the DR Congo
-The Isle of Man passed a law that would help tax evaders, the documents show
-A key aide of Canada’s PM has been linked to offshore schemes that may have cost the nation millions of dollars in taxes, threatening to embarrass Justin Trudeau
-Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative party deputy chairman and a significant donor, may have broken the rules around how his offshore investments were managed. Other papers suggest he retained his non-dom tax status while in the House of Lords, despite claiming to have become resident in the UK
-How questions were raised about who is controlling Everton FC
-An oligarch with close links to the Kremlin may have secretly taken ownership of a company responsible for anti-money laundering checks on Russian cash
-How a UK company exploited an anti-tax avoidance law to actually save itself tax
-How millionaires in the UK are selling their assets to offshore companies only to become investment advisers to those companies, thereby avoiding tax
-Private equity firm Blackstone avoided tens of millions of pounds in UK taxes on property deals in Glasgow and London
-Billionaire Dermot Desmond’s exclusive private jet company used an offshore tax haven to avoid taxes