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According to a survey released on Sunday, King Abdullah II of Jordan was one of dozens of world leaders who hid millions of dollars in offshore tax havens and secretly bought luxury homes around the world.
So-called Pandora Thesis Detector The basis for the involvement of approximately 600 journalists was that approximately 11.9 million documents from 14 global financial services institutions were leaked.
These documents show how King Abdullah II created a network of offshore companies and tax havens to build a $100 million real estate empire from Malibu, California to Washington, DC and London.
According to the survey: “Three seaside mansions in Malibu [were] In the years after Jordanians flooded the streets to protest against unemployment and corruption during the Arab Spring, the King of Jordan bought it through three offshore companies for $68 million. “
According to the report, the 59-year-old Abdullah also owns three luxury apartments in a complex in Washington, DC, with panoramic views of the Potomac River, and one in Ascot, one of the most expensive towns in England. Houses, and multi-million dollar apartments in central London. .
Middle Eastern scholar Annelle Sheline said: “Jordan does not have the kind of money that other Middle Eastern monarchies like Saudi Arabia allow the king to show off his wealth.” lead As said.
“If the Jordanian monarch showed his wealth more publicly, it would not only anger his people, but also disgust the Western donors who gave him the money.”
Quoting King Abdullah’s lawyer, all real estate is purchased with personal wealth. For privacy and security reasons, it is a common practice for celebrities to purchase real estate through offshore companies.
“Any suggestion that improperly owning property through a company in an offshore jurisdiction is categorically denied.” Said DLA Piper, a law firm representing the monarch.
“[Abdullah] At no time is there any misuse of public funds or the use of any aid or aid proceeds intended for public use. “
336 senior politicians
Approximately 35 current and former leaders appear in the document analyze By the International Federation of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)-facing allegations ranging from corruption to money laundering and global tax avoidance.
The documents also show that Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis-facing elections later this week-failed to declare an offshore investment company for the purchase of a $22 million castle in southern France.
In total, ICIJ discovered connections between nearly 1,000 offshore safe haven companies and 336 senior politicians and public officials (including national leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, etc.).
More than two-thirds of the companies are established in the British Virgin Islands.
ICIJ emphasizes that in most countries, it is not illegal to own assets overseas or use shell companies to conduct multinational business.
But for leaders who may openly oppose corruption or advocate austerity measures at home, such revelations are equally embarrassing.
“The new data breach must have sounded the alarm,” said Sven Giegold, a member of the Green Party of the European Parliament. “Global tax evasion has exacerbated global inequality. We now need to expand and strengthen our response.”
Aliyev and Kenyatta make the list
Other revelations from the ICIJ survey include:
- Allegedly, the family and colleagues of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev secretly participated in real estate transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the UK.
- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and six family members are accused of secretly owning a network of offshore companies.
- It is said that members of the inner circle of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, including cabinet ministers and their families, secretly own companies and trust funds, holding millions of dollars.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin did not directly name the documents, but he was connected with Monaco’s secret assets through his assistants.
The Pandora Document is the latest in a series of ICIJ large-scale financial document leaks that started with LuxLeaks in 2014, followed by the Panama Document, Paradise Document and FinCen.
The documents behind the latest investigation come from financial services companies in the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland.
The latest blockbuster is even more extensive than the Panama file, transplanting nearly 3 terabytes of data-equivalent to approximately 750,000 photos on a smartphone-from 14 different service providers operating in 38 different jurisdictions around the world Give way.
These records date back to the 1970s, but most of the documents span from 1996 to 2020.
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