London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 28, 2026

‘Pandora papers’: New leaks reveal how world leaders use offshore companies to dodge millions of dollars in taxes

‘Pandora papers’: New leaks reveal how world leaders use offshore companies to dodge millions of dollars in taxes

Leaked papers appear to show how some of the world’s elites accumulate property empires while avoiding millions in taxes, with reports focusing on European, Middle Eastern and South American leaders, and world-famous celebrities.
Obtained from 14 offshore banking institutions and analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the ‘Pandora Papers’ reveal the financial chicanery of more than 100 billionaires, 35 current and former world leaders, and 300 public officials. The first round of information, handed to a select list of international outlets and studied by “600 journalists,” was published on Sunday.

According to the ICIJ, King Abdullah II of Jordan is a prolific user of shell corporations to manage his global property empire. The monarch reportedly used 36 of these companies from 1995 to 2017 to purchase 14 luxury properties in the US and UK worth more than $106 million. The king’s lawyers say he used these stand-in companies to maintain his privacy rather than to dodge any taxes.

Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family has traded almost $500 million worth of British property in recent years, according to the leaks. One of these properties was sold by an Aliyev-owned front company to the Queen’s crown estate for a sizable $90 million.

Two EU leaders are named in the leaks: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who used an offshore investment company to acquire a $22 million château in the South of France, and President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus, who founded a law firm accused of hiding a Russian billionaire’s wealth.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie are mentioned, with the pair allegedly having dodged $422,603 in property taxes when they purchased an $8.8 million London office partially owned by the family of a prominent Bahraini lawmaker. The Blairs were apparently able to circumvent these taxes by purchasing the foreign holding company that owned the office.

The list of leaders is extensive, and also includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of Dubai and vice president of the United Arab Emirates.

Despite featuring an image of Vladimir Putin front and center on their introductory piece, and mentioning Putin nearly 50 times in a spin-off article about the “hidden riches of Putin’s inner circle,” The Guardian had to admit in its reporting that the Russian president “does not appear in the files by name.” Instead, the paper focused on Putin’s “friends,” including billionaire businessman Gennady Timchenko, and Putin’s rumored past “girlfriend.”

A number of celebrities are mentioned in the leaks, including pop star Shakira and former cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar of India. Lawyers for both stress that their offshore holdings were legitimate and declared to the tax authorities.

Offshore banking is not illegal, and is often used by the wealthy to avoid taxes, while shell companies are frequently used to distance the rich from their holdings for political reasons or reasons of public image. However, such mechanisms make it easier to hide ill-gotten gains from the eyes of law enforcement or regulators.

“There’s never been anything on this scale and it shows the reality of what offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax,” Fergus Shiel of the ICIJ told the BBC. “They are using those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich their own families at the expense of their citizens.”

However, the leaks reveal a status quo that few would find surprising, especially since the 2016 Panama Papers and 2017 Paradise Papers offered readers a look into the world of offshore banking.

Despite the major names listed in the latest document trove, the journalists behind the leaks don’t expect anything to change. “When you have world leaders, when you have politicians, when you have public officials, all using the secrecy and all using this world, then I don’t think we’re going to see an end to it,” ICIJ Director Gerard Ryle told The Guardian.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Nearly 23,000 UK Households Expected to Move Home on Busiest Day of 2026
UK Benefit Payments to Arrive Early Ahead of August Bank Holiday
Reform UK Pledges to Replace GDPR and Cut Tax Administration Red Tape
Andy Burnham Launches Work Experience Plan for One Million Young People Outside Education or Work
Andy Burnham Faces Labour Backlash After Dropping Support for Political Donations Cap
Andy Burnham Announces UK-Wide Summit With Leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Met Office Warns of Heavy Rain and Flood Risk Across England and Wales After Summer Heat
Bank of England Warns AI Adoption Could Reduce Demand for Automatable Jobs
UK Confirms National Salmonella Outbreak With More Than 200 Cases
UK Airports Handle Record 81 Million Passengers Despite Middle East Disruption
Ofgem Raises UK Energy Price Cap by Four Percent to £1,723
Cyber Attack Hits Customer Data Systems at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airports
TSA Unveils Major Airport-Security Overhaul as It Drops Gold+ Privatization Plan
CIA Chief Warned Russia Against Attacking NATO in Secret Moscow Mission
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After Lamborghini Crash
The Secret Dolly Parton Kept Until Her Death: "She Was Much Sicker Than She Let On"
Middlesbrough House Fire Kills Woman and Seven-Year-Old Girl
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Return to UK Amid Renewed Media Attention
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After London Collision
Greenpeace Threatens Legal Action Over Crown Estate Offshore Wind Leasing
Nvidia Revenue Surges to Ninety-Six Point Two Billion Dollars on Artificial Intelligence Demand
Meta Agrees to Global Youth Safety Changes Following Multi-State Legal Settlement
UK Government Plans Autumn Summit With Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Leaders
CMA Caps Veterinary Prescription Fees at Twenty-One Pounds
Thames Water Pilot Records Forever Chemicals at Thirteen Times the Legal Limit
Kent Meningitis Outbreak Reaches Thirty-Four Confirmed Cases
Forty Children Missing From UK Asylum Accommodation Remain Unaccounted For
UK Court Upholds VAT on Private School Fees
US Designates Palestine Action as Foreign Terrorist Organization
UK Approves Massive New Chinese Embassy Complex in London Amid Security Concerns
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Visits Kyiv and Offers Cruise Missile Designs to Ukraine
Glacier Collapse, Not Earthquake, Triggered Deadly Nepal-Tibet Flood
Andy Burnham Drops Plan to Cap Political Donations
Conservative Leadership Contest Intensifies as Robert Jenrick Attacks Kemi Badenoch
French-Born Defence Secretary Wes Streeting Condemns Homophobic Abuse Since Taking Office
UK Government Delays Commercial Robotaxi Rollout in London Over Regulatory Gaps
NHS Complaints About Autism and ADHD Care Waiting Times Triple Over Five Years
UK Government Launches 10,000 Work Placements for Young People With Sainsbury's
NHS England to Offer Free At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Kits
EU Biometric Border Checks Cause Delays of Up to Five Hours for British Travellers
US Imposes Economic Sanctions on UK-Based Protest Group Palestine Action
Two Planned UK Datacentres Could Produce More Annual Carbon Emissions Than ExxonMobil's Entire UK Operation
London Surgeons Complete First Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Brain Tumour Removal
UK Services Growth Rebounds as Consumer Confidence Reaches Two-Year High
Ofgem Confirms Four Percent October Energy Price Cap Increase for UK Households
Government Considers Insolvency Law Changes to Bring Thames Water Into Public Ownership
Andy Burnham Signs Artificial Intelligence Defence Pact During Visit to Kyiv
Church of England Faces Renewed Scrutiny Over Historical Safeguarding Failures
Reform UK Proposes £30 Tax Credit for Long HMRC Telephone Queues
Greater Manchester Secures More Than £100 Million to Upgrade Victorian Railway Stations
×