First, there were the Panama Papers, then the Paradise Papers, now another vast data leak has made its way to the hands of investigative journalists, revealing the offshore dealings of billionaires and politicians across the world.
The Pandora Papers represent 2.94 terabytes of data, more than twice the size of the Paradise Papers leak. More than 300 public officials and 35 current and former leaders are named in the files of offshore companies.
The papers also show the extent to which offshore firms lie behind UK property purchases.
The investigation was conducted jointly by a number of media outlets, including BBC’s Panorama programme and The Guardian newspaper in the UK. In addition to the findings published over the weekend, further revelations can be expected over the coming days.
Leading headlines in the UK are details of a property transaction by former prime minister Tony Blair and his wife. The files show the couple saved £312,000 in stamp duty when they bought a £6.45m office in London in 2017, according to The Guardian.
The tax saving came about because they bought a British Virgin Islands-based firm that owned the building, rather than buying the property directly. No tax rules were broken, and there is no evidence the Blairs were trying to avoid paying stamp duty – Mrs Blair said the seller insisted the sale be carried out this way. The couple also said they will be liable to UK capital gains tax on disposal of the property. When he was prime minister, Tony Blair was critical of tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy.
The papers name the owners of some of the 95,000 offshore firms used to buy UK property. The UK government has been pledging for several years to create a register of offshore property owners.
It was first promised by then prime minister David Cameron in 2015. While a draft registration of overseas entities bill was published in 2018, it has not yet been introduced to parliament.
According to Transparency International figures provided by Downing Street to The Guardian in an earlier report, one in 10 properties in the City of Westminster is thought to be owned by offshore companies. Across England and Wales, £120bn worth of property is owned offshore.
Another Pandora Papers revelation shows how the president of Azerbaijan and his family appear to have made a £31m profit by selling a London property to the Crown Estate, which raises money for the exchequer by managing the Queen’s property and is overseen by the Treasury.
Many of the transactions detailed in the Pandora Papers involve no legal wrongdoing, but they do reveal the extent to which the wealthy and powerful are able to carry out substantial transactions legally behind a veil of secrecy.
Fergus Shiel from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said: ‘There’s never been anything on this scale and it shows the reality of what offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax.’
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