Pandural Leak – Rich Swedes hide their assets in tax havens

News

Publication date: 10-20-2021 07:33

Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT and Jurek Holzer / TT / AP

A new Pandora leak reveals how the rich and powerful are hiding their assets in tax havens. Among the heads of state and government, the royal family, civil servants and criminals, there are also just over 200 Swedes – some famous, according to a review by SVT Assignment.

Pandoral’s leak, through nearly 12 million classified documents, reveals how those in power use the schemes that have come under heavy criticism.

It’s the network of ICIJ journalists, the international consortium of investigative journalists – that received the leak and then shared it with more than 600 journalists in 117 countries, including SVT’s Assignment Review, which now provides bits of content.

Post office company

These include anonymous companies and organizations that use mailboxes to hide assets.

– The leak shows that there is a shadow world that we don’t know. When nations are drained of their assets, the gaps widen. Tax havens exacerbate poverty, says Gerard Ryle, president of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Network.

Documents in the new Pandora leak show, among other things, how Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis used a chain of email companies to secretly purchase several properties, including the castle, near Cannes in France, according to the SVT Assignment Review.

The Prime Minister did not mention about companies or property, which goes against the Czech rules of elected politicians.

Tony Blair

Pandora Leak also includes former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador. According to the SVT Assignment Review, a total of 35 active or former heads of state and government have been identified, and more than 330 government employees from 91 countries. More than 130 billionaires, from Russia, India and the USA, among others, were also revealed in the leak, in which environmental criminals, wanted persons and people belonging to the mafia were also identified.

According to a SVT Assignment review, more than 200 Swedes were also included in the Pandora leak. The list includes a stock exchange CEO and one of the richest families in the country, but also a suspected environmental criminal, right-wing extremist and member of the Hells Angels.

CEO of the Swedish Stock Exchange

Some names stand out in the crowd, including the Swedish CEO joining as a representative of a company in the BVI in 2016. This will happen with respect to the listed company he is CEO of, in which he invests the equivalent of SEK 170 million overseas. According to the SVT Assignment review, the company located in the British Virgin Islands is owned by the Swedish listed company along with several other people and companies.

One of the richest Swedish families, which has a combined fortune of several billion, is also included in documents from Dubai. The family’s Swedish subsidiary hires SFM in Dubai to set up a company in Hong Kong.

The leak also includes a Swedish businessman suspected of several accounting violations in a widespread tangle. According to SVT Uppdrag Granskning, the entrepreneur was behind a Swedish conglomerate that went bankrupt last year with several hundred million debts.

The leak also includes two Swedish men with strong links to the Swedish far right and a 50-year-old Swedish man who has been a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang for many years.