A look at world leaders named in the Pandora Papers

Tony Blair former British Prime Minister and his wife Cherie Blair. AP file photo via Microsoft News

A global investigation has revealed how the rich and powerful have being hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront property, yachts and other assets for the past quarter-century. Collectively these assets are worth trillions of dollars.

The investigation, dubbed the Pandora Papers, was published late Sunday and involved 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries.

The report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists brought promises of tax reform and demands for resignations and investigations, as well as explanations and denials from those targeted.

Here is a look at some of some of those named in the investigation.

JORDAN

The investigation found that advisers helped King Abdullah II of Jordan set up at least three dozen shell companies from 1995 to 2017, helping the monarch buy 14 homes worth more than $106 million in the U.S. and the U.K. One was a $23 million California ocean-view property bought in 2017 through a company in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven in the Caribbean.

On Monday Abdullah denied any impropriety in his purchase of luxury homes abroad.

The allegations come as Abdullah seeks international aid to pull his impoverished country out of recession, and could unsettle Jordan’s critical relationship with the international community. The country is seen as a stable, pro-Western bulwark in a volatile region — but it relies on billions in aid.

UNITED KINGDOM

Tony Blair, U.K. prime minister from 1997 to 2007, became the owner of an $8.8 million Victorian building in 2017 by buying a British Virgin Islands company that held the property, and the building now hosts the law firm of his wife, Cherie Blair, according to the investigation.

The two bought the company from the family of Bahrain’s industry and tourism minister, Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani. Buying the company shares instead of the London building saved the Blairs more than $400,000 in property taxes, the investigation found.

The Blairs denied any wrongdoing, with the couple's spokesperson saying "the Blairs pay full tax on all their earnings. And have never used offshore schemes either to hide transactions or avoid tax.”

PAKISTAN

Members of the inner circle of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan are accused of hiding millions of dollars in wealth in secret companies or trusts, according to the journalists’ findings.

Khan, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, vowed to recover the “ill-gotten gains” and said his government will look into all citizens mentioned in the documents and take action, if needed.

CZECH REPUBLIC

In 2009, Andrej Babis, the Czech prime minister, put $22 million into shell companies to buy a chateau property in a hilltop village in Mougins, France, near Cannes, the investigation found. The shell companies and the chateau were not disclosed in Babis’ required asset declarations, according to documents obtained by the journalism group’s Czech partner, Investigace.cz.

A real estate group owned indirectly by Babis bought the Monaco company that owned the chateau in 2018, the probe found.

Babis has denied any wrongdoing. He said the report was meant to harm him ahead of the Czech Republic's parliamentary election being held on Friday and Saturday.

MONTENEGRO

Montenegro’s President Milo Djukanovic and his son in 2012 allegedly established a trust and hid their wealth in a complicated network of companies, according to the investigation.

Djukanovic’s office said that he did establish a business trust with his son in 2012, while not in office. After he became the prime minister later the same year, Djukanovic transferred all the rights to his son, the office said. While Djukanovic was one of the owners there had been no business transactions, they said.

Djukanovic has been a key Western ally in efforts to move the volatile Balkan region closer to Euro-Atlantic integration and away from Russia. After steering Montenegro to independence from Serbia in 2006, Djukanovic led his nation of 600,000 into NATO in 2017.

Montenegro is now seeking European Union membership.

On Monday he faced calls to resign. – AP via Microsoft News