A massive leak of financial papers released by many major news organizations on Sunday connected global leaders and influences to hidden money in offshore tax havens, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The release of more than 11.9 million documents, totaling to approximately 2.94 terabytes of data, occurred five years after the leak known as the “Panama Papers” revealed how money was concealed by the rich in ways that law enforcement authorities could not discover.
150 journalists from news organizations in various countries worked together as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to complete the investigation.
35 former and current world leaders, as well as over 330 officials from about 100 countries, are involved in hidden financial assets in foreign accounts, according to the documents.
Such offshore accounts are usually used to secretly manage large amounts of money.
The papers reportedly linked the country’s prime minister, Babis, to a $22 million hidden home in a hilltop hamlet near Cannes, France, days ahead of the Czech Republic’s parliamentary elections on Oct. 8-9, according to Reuters.
Babis wrote on Twitter that he had done nothing “illegal or wrong.”
The leak also claimed Jordan’s King Abdullah II purchased of more than $100 million in luxury real estate in the UK and the UK, which the King denied in a statement, saying his paid for the purchases with his personal fortune.
“Such allegations are defamatory and designed to target Jordan’s reputation as well as His Majesty’s credibility and the critical role he plays regionally and internationally,” the Jordanian royal family statement said.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader was also named among 14 global leaders with holdings in tax havens. According to the Panama Papers, the president has ties to two Panamanian firms, Littlecot and Padresso, which he owns with his sister and brother.
Like the “Panama Papers”, which had previously sparked controversy, it was reported that the “Pandora Documents” had been leaked by an “unknown source”. It is by far the largest leak of data containing information on tax havens.
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