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- A huge leak of financial documents, published on Sunday, has allegedly linked world leaders to secret stores of wealth
- The dump of more than 11.9 million financial records was published by the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
- The files implicate roughly 35 current or former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials across 91 countries and territories
- Named in the files are also 400 Australians, many of whom are clients of international trust and corporate services provider Asiaciti
- The ATO says it does not rely on data leaks to do its job, but it will compare the information to the data it already has
A huge leak of financial documents was published globally on Sunday by several major news outlets, allegedly connecting world leaders to secret stores of wealth. The leaders include King Abdullah of Jordan, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The dump of more than 11.9 million financial records — totalling around 2.94 terabytes of data — comes five years after the Panama Papers exposed how money was hidden by the world’s elite in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect. The confidential information came from 14 offshore service providers, enterprises that set up and manage shell companies and trusts in tax havens around the world, and represents the largest leak of offshore files in history.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a Washington D.C.-based network of reporters and media organisations, said the files implicated roughly 35 current or former national leaders and more than 330 politicians and public officials across 91 countries and territories.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is a close ally of the US, is alleged to have used offshore accounts to spend more than US$100 million (A$137 million) on luxury homes in the UK and US.
DLA Piper, a London law office representing King Abdullah, told the group of media outlets that he had “not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use”.
The Washington Post, which is part of the group, also reported on the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman who it said became the owner of an apartment in Monaco through an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in April 2013. At the time, she was in a secret, years-long relationship with Mr Putin.
Just days ahead of the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election, the documents also allegedly tie the country’s prime minister, Mr Babis, to a secret US$22 million (A$30 million) estate in a hilltop village near Cannes, France.
Speaking during a television debate on Sunday, Mr Babis denied any wrongdoing.
“The money left a Czech bank, was taxed, it was my money, and returned to a Czech bank,” he said said.
Also named in the papers are more than 400 Australians, many of whom are clients of Asiaciti, an international trust and corporate services provider with operations in Singapore, Samoa, the Cook Islands and New Zealand.
Last year, Singapore’s financial agency fined Asiaciti US$793,000 (A$1.09 million) for failing to implement “adequate” anti-money-laundering policies between 2007 and 2018.
ATO Deputy Commissioner and Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) chief Will Day said that while the information is interesting, the agency doesn’t rely on data leaks to do its job.
“We are well connected locally and globally in our efforts to fight financial crime,” he said.
“We will certainly look at this data set and compare it with the data we already have to identify any potential connections.”
