on Monday, World leaders were on the edge after the release of millions of documents specifying how heads of state use offshore tax haven to stack assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Thirty-five current and former leaders are highlighted in roughly 11.9 million documents leaked from financial services companies that include reports of luxury mansions on the French Riviera, Monte Carlo, and California.
The so-called “Pandora Papers” was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and released in stories by media partners including The Washington Post, the BBC, and The Guardian.
Allegations vary from corruption to money laundering and tax evasion.
In most countries, holding assets offshore or using shell companies is not illegal but the revelations are embarrassing for leaders who have pushed severe measures or campaigned against corruption.
Read: Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Ambani among 300 Indians named in Pandora Papers
While Russian pioneer Vladimir Putin isn’t named, he is connected through partners to secret resources in Monaco, including a waterfront home secured by a Russian lady answered to have had a kid with him.
“This is just a set of largely unsubstantiated claims,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“We didn’t see anything on hidden wealth within Putin’s inner circle.” Jordan rejected as “distorted” reports that King Abdullah II created a network of offshore companies and tax havens to amass a $100 million property empire stretching from California to London.
‘Nothing to hide’
Abdullah did not openly address the issue but criticized what he termed a “campaign against Jordan”.
“Attempts to embarrass Jordan have been going on for some time, and there are still those who want to sabotage it and sow suspicions,” a royal court statement quoted him as saying to a group of tribal elders. “We have nothing to hide”.
The country’s royal court stated that the properties were sponsored with the king’s personal wealth and were used for official and private visits.
Ivory Coast Prime Minister Patrick Achi also denied wrongdoing, after allegations that he became the holder of Bahamas-based company Allstar Consultancy Services Ltd through a trust that concealed his ownership.
Achi’s office condemned the “malicious use seemingly being made of this information” that dates back to the late 1990s when he was an adviser to Ivory Coast’s energy minister.
Read: What are the Pandora Papers?
Achi “will not allow his name to be linked with illicit activities and thereby sullied”, the statement added.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta stated that the papers would “enhance financial transparency”, but bypassed allegations that his family-owned 11 offshore companies worth millions of dollars.
“The movement of illicit funds, proceeds of crime, and corruption thrive in an environment of secrecy and darkness,” said Kenyatta, the son of independent Kenya’s first president.
Czech PM hits back
The ICIJ revealed links between almost 1,000 companies in offshore havens and 336 high-level politicians and public officials.
Among them were more than a dozen serving heads of state and government, country leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, and others.
Read: Wealthy Pakistanis who appear on Pandora Papers
More than two-thirds of the companies were set up in the British Virgin Islands.
Family and associates of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev — long accused of corruption in the central Asian nation — are assumed to have been covertly involved in property transactions in Britain worth hundreds of millions.
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