The biggest ever exposé of offshore data has spilled the beans on the real estate secrets of scores of world leaders, A-list celebrities, billionaire tycoons and royals, and brought to light a slew of offshore property transactions. From the Blairs' London townhouse and the King of Jordan's covert real estate empire to Julio Iglesias' Miami mansion, click or scroll on to check out some of the luxury properties disclosed in the unprecedented leak.
Obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Pandora Papers consist of a staggering 11.9 million leaked documents, images and more totalling 2.94 terabytes of data. The files emanate from 14 offshore financial services firms that help their clients hide wealth and avoid taxes through secretive bank accounts and shell companies.
As many as 35 current and former world leaders feature in the explosive leak. They include former British prime minister Tony Blair. Together with his wife Cherie, the ex-Labour Party leader was able to avoid paying $425,000 (£312k) in stamp duty on an $8.9 million (£6.5m) London office the power couple acquired in 2017.
Thanks to a perfectly legal loophole, the duo avoided the levy because they bought the offshore company that owned the property, a firm belonging to a Bahraini minister, rather than the townhouse itself. The Blairs set up a UK company to purchase the foreign entity and promptly dissolved it once the deal was done and dusted.
The townhouse on Marylebone's Harcourt Street was bought to serve as offices for Mrs Blair's foundation for women and her legal advisory firm Omnia. Responding to the leak, a spokesperson for the couple insists the property was purchased through reputable estate agents and they had never used offshore schemes to avoid tax. They also stressed that by bringing the company onshore, the property became liable for UK capital gains and other taxes, which would far exceed any stamp duty.
King Abdullah II of Jordan is one of several royals implicated in the exposé. The leak shows the Middle Eastern monarch has spent years building up a global real estate empire worth more than $106 million (£77.8m) as his country received billions of dollars in foreign aid and many of his people struggled to make ends meet.
Mysteriously referred to as “you know who” in the leaked documents, the king reportedly splurged nearly $70 million (£51m) on three neighbouring clifftop mansions in Malibu. In 2014, the royal's offshore firm Nabisco Holdings SA snapped up this fabulous seven-bedroom, nine-and-a-half bathroom beauty in the elite California enclave, paying $35.5 million (£26.1m) for the pad.
His Majesty followed up the purchase in 2015 by furtively bagging the property next door for just over $12.3 million (£9m). Rocking four bedrooms and the same number of bathrooms, the house was constructed in 1982 and is the smallest of the trio, though pretty big by the average homebuyer's standards.
Completing the enviable compound, King Abdullah snagged the third property in 2017, a spectacular seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom villa, which set him back a cool $23 million (£16.9m) according to The Washington Post. Official documents submitted to the Malibu Planning Commission propose the demolition of one of the properties, to be replaced with a mansion twice the size, as well as an extensive overhaul of the remaining two.
The leak also revealed that the monarch had secretly acquired a $6.5 million (£4.8m) apartment in a condo building on the Georgetown waterfront in Washington DC. The property was purchased in 2012 via an offshore company called Zayer Ltd and may have been used by the king's son Crown Prince Hussein while he was studying at Georgetown University.
All in all, he secretly acquired 14 properties in the US and UK via offshore firms, including a mansion in Ascot and this townhouse in London's Belgravia. Hitting back at the leak, a law office representing Abdullah said that he'd “not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use.” They also stated that there was nothing improper about the king's ownership of property through companies in offshore jurisdictions.
Populist Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš is known for his vocal opposition against corruption, having vowed to combat fraud and increase government transparency. Needless to say, it must have come as quite a shock for the politician, who took office at the end of 2017, to discover he has a starring role in the leak.
According to the ICIJ's investigation, the PM channelled $22 million (£16.1m) in 2009 via offshore firms based in tax havens to buy a sprawling estate in the much sought-after hilltop village of Mougins on the French Riviera, not far from Cannes. The property, which wasn't declared to the tax authorities, consists of two lavish homes: Château Bigaud and the bijou Casa Bigaud.
Nestled between medieval ruins and verdant forests, the idyllic five-bedroom Château Bigaud has all the trappings of a high-end Provençal holiday home, including 9.4 acres of beautifully manicured grounds, stunning swimming pools, a home cinema and other suitably high-end amenities.
The politician has shared snaps of the property on his social media accounts, posting photos of his vacations to the French Riviera. This image from his Twitter account for instance shows him in 2015 celebrating his daughter's 15th birthday at the château, along with other members of the Babiš family.
Here he is in a rubber dinghy in one of the estate's pools captured during the same holiday in 2015. This particular pic appeared on the PM's Facebook account. The leak couldn't have come at the worse time for the politician, with the Czech general election taking place from 8 - 9 October.
According to independent media outlet Proekt, Russian president Vladimir Putin met hard-up cleaner and business student Svetlana Krivonogikh in the late 1990s when he was deputy mayor of St Petersburg and is said to be the father of her daughter Elizaveta, who was born in 2003. Astonishingly, the leak has revealed Krivonogikh was worth $100 million (£73.4m) by the early 2000s, despite her very humble beginnings.
In addition to owning properties in Moscow, a mega-pricey yacht and numerous other secret assets, documents in the Pandora Papers show that Putin's alleged former mistress – the couple are said to have parted ways in the mid-2000s – bought a $4.2 million (£3.1m) condo in Monaco in 2003 through offshore company Brockville Development Ltd.
Making the ultimate owner of the hidden home even harder to trace, the firm, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, was owned by two entities operating out of Panama, another infamous tax haven, a multi-layered arrangement The Guardian newspaper has likened to a Russian doll. The unit is reportedly located on the fourth floor of the iconic Monte Carlo Star, one of the principality’s most prestigious developments.
No images exist online of the actual unit, but this apartment on the floor above gives you an idea as to how it could have looked. As might be expected, the Kremlin has dismissed the leaked info. Official spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has called the claims “unsubstantiated", saying he hadn't "seen any hidden wealth of Putin's inner circle" in the leaked papers.
Another royal who has been called out by the leak is Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco, the youngest sister of the country's current king, Mohammed VI, who has an estimated fortune of $5.7 billion (£4.2m), making him Africa's wealthiest monarch. The leak unmasked the princess as the owner of Oumaila Ltd, a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands.
The entity was formed in 2002 and used that same year to buy a lavish five-bedroom mansion near London's Kensington Palace. The manse is now valued at almost $11 million (£8m). The ICIJ found that the king's little sister used funds from the "Moroccan Royal Family" to make the purchase, listing her occupation on the official documents as princess.
Among the celebrities quoted in the Pandora Papers is legendary Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias. The singer-songwriter, who is considered the most successful Spanish-speaking artists of all time and worth around $600 million (£440m), gets a mention for his purchase of five properties on Miami's ultra-exclusive Indian Creek Island, which is dubbed the 'Billionaire Bunker'.
The private island's leading landowner, Iglesias bought two parcels in 1978 and went on to amass a further three over the years, including a lot on the opposite side of the isle featuring a modernist mansion that he lives in for two months of the year. According to the leak, these properties were reportedly bought using five companies based in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.
Iglesias intended to gift the four undeveloped plots to his kids, including superstar son Enrique, but they weren't interested in moving to the enclave, so he decided to put the private island parcels up for sale. Lots four, five, six and seven went on the market in 2017 for $150 million (£110m), but failed to entice a buyer, prompting the veteran star to divvy up the eight-acre bundle.
Lot number four was bought in December 2020 for $32.2 million (£23.7m) by none other than Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, thrusting the island into the spotlight. Previously that month, cosmetic surgeon to the stars Aaron Rollins snapped up number seven, paying $30 million (£22m) for the privilege.
In addition to the Indian Creek assets, Iglesias owns a number of properties in nearby Surfside, all of which are controlled by an opaque offshore trust. But Iglesias swears he's never sidestepped paying his fair share. “I never stopped paying a single damn tax anywhere in the world,“ he told Spanish journalist Jordi Évole in 2015. “Where I sing, I pay my taxes.”
Azerbaijan's ruling president Ilham Aliyev and his family feature prominently in the leak too. The fourth president of the country, he's served in the position since his election in October 2003. His tenure has attracted controversy, however, and the Aliyev family have been accused of looting their own country.
The premier's three children along with several close business associates have amassed a formidable UK property empire over the years through offshore firms. Worth a reported $694 million (£510m) at one time, the real estate portfolio spans dozens of properties mainly in the London area. It includes two contemporary townhouses in upmarket Holland Park and a small flat nearby bought for a total of $41.8 million (£30.8m).
In 2012, a British Virgin Islands firm owned by one of the president's associates paid $23.6m (£17.3m) for a handsome townhouse on Ovington Square in Knightsbridge, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). The following year, a separate company also based in the British Virgin Islands and linked to the leader bought a townhouse on the opposite side of the square for $23.8 million (£17.5m).
Also in the bulging portfolio are several units in The Knightsbridge, one of London's most desirable developments. Three apartments were purchased in 2006 for $7 million (£5.1m) by a British Virgin Islands-based firm of which Aliyev's daughter Arzu was a key shareholder. Meanwhile, a separate company based in the tax haven and eventually owned by Arzu acquired two penthouses in the building for a whopping $44.8 million (£32.9m).
According to the OCCRP, a five-storey luxury mansion on Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park is linked to the Aliyev family, one of whom is reportedly a director of the firm that manages it. The property, which consists of several luxe apartments, was worth over $33 million (£24.2m) when OCCRP conducted its investigation in 2015.
In addition, the Aliyevs have been uncovered as the ultimate owners of this substantial red-brick residence in North London's leafy Hampstead neighbourhood. The so-called 'Mansion on the Heath' was bought way back in 1998 by a company owned by the president and his wife, then transferred to their daughter Leyla and it's now owned by a family trust.
As well as residential real estate, the family owns numerous commercial properties in the UK capital through front companies. The most eyebrow-raising transaction involved the purchase of this large building in Mayfair. Bought by the clan in 2009 for $45.7 million (£33.5m), it was sold to the Queen's Crown Estate in 2018 for $90.7 million (£66.5m). The estate has launched an internal review of the transaction.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, is yet another royal who has warranted a mention in the unprecedented leak. Much like the Blairs, the emir's family were reportedly able to avoid paying millions of pounds in stamp duty on two of London's most expensive residential properties, though there is no suggestion that they acted illegally.
The Crown Estate is looking into the sale of the Grade I-listed property in Regent's Park and the sale of an adjacent address since it owns the freehold of the properties. The first house was bought by the emir's family in 2013 through an offshore entity for $109 million (£80m), making it the priciest terraced home sold in the UK.
The Middle Eastern royal family went on to purchase the neighbouring property for $54.5 million (£40m) and appear to have been granted permission to combine the three houses to create a 17-bedroom mega-mansion. Quite the home renovation! While the transactions were totally legal, the clan sidestepped paying $25.2 million (£18.5m) in stamp duty, money that would otherwise have ended up in the UK's tax coffers.
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