'Pandora Papers' show heads of state hid millions offshore: Report

Washington

More than a dozen heads of state and government, includingthe King of Jordan and the Czech prime minister, have hidden millions inoffshore tax havens, according to an investigation published Sunday by the ICIJmedia consortium.

The so-called "Pandora Papers" investigation --involving some 600 journalists from media including The Washington Post, theBBC and The Guardian -- is based on the leak of some 11.9 million documentsfrom 14 financial services companies around the world.

Some 35 current and former leaders are featured in thedocuments analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists(ICIJ) -- facing allegations ranging from corruption to money laundering andglobal tax avoidance.

The documents notably expose how King Abdullah II created anetwork of offshore companies and tax havens to amass a $100 million propertyempire from Malibu, California to Washington and London.

The BBC cited lawyers for King Abdullah saying all theproperties were bought with personal wealth, and that it was common practicefor high profile individuals to purchase properties via offshore companies forprivacy and security reasons.

The documents also show Czech Prime minister Andrej Babis --facing an election later this week -- failed to declare an offshore investmentcompany used to purchase a chateau worth $22 million in the south of France.

In total, the ICIJ found links between almost 1,000companies in offshore havens and 336 high-level politicians and publicofficials, including country leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors andothers.

More than two-thirds of the companies were set up in theBritish Virgin Islands.

In most countries, the ICIJ stresses, it is not illegal tohave assets offshore or to use shell companies to do business across nationalborders.

But such revelations are no less of an embarrassment forleaders who may have campaigned publicly against corruption, or advocatedausterity measures at home.

Among the other revelations from the ICIJ investigation:

• Family and associates of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are alleged to have been secretly involved in property deals in Britain worth hundreds of millions.
• Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and six family members are alleged to secretly own a network of offshore companies.
• Members of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers and their families, are said to secretly own companies and trusts holding millions of dollars.
•  Russian President Vladimir Putin is not directly named in the files, but he is linked via associates to secret assets in Monaco.
• The "Pandora Papers" are the latest in a series of mass ICIJ leaks of financial documents that started with LuxLeaks in 2014, and was followed by the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers and FinCen.