The British monarch seems to be bearing the brunt of public scrutiny after 13.4 million documents were stolen in a cyberattack on Bermuda-headquartered law firm Appleby in 2016.
The hack was only made public in October 2017 after the firm was contacted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and a number of its partner media organisations, which broke the Panama Papers story.
According to UK newspaper The Guardian, more than 380 journalists have spent a year looking through data that stretches back 70 years.
The latest offshore leak involves more documents than Panama and is understood to involve some of Britain’s wealthiest people.
Named
In addition to £10m ($13.1m, €11.3m) from the Queen’s private estate that was legally invested in a Cayman Islands fund, according to The Guardian, the Paradise Papers reveal:
Extensive offshore dealings by US president Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors; including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.
A Cayman Islands trust managed by a close adviser to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
A previously unknown $450m (£344m, €387m) offshore trust that sheltered the wealth of UK peer Lord Ashcroft at a time when he was believed to have given up his non-dom status.
Billions in tax refunds by the Isle of Man and Malta to owners of private jets and luxury yachts.
Complex offshore webs used by two billionaires to buy stakes in Arsenal and Everton football clubs.
Dying practice?
The tax practices outlined in the Paradise Papers are dying out, claims Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) boss Angel Guerria.
Speaking in London at a Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference on Monday, he said: “When we’re talking about the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, we’re talking about a legacy that is fast disappearing,” reports Reuters.
He credited the work of the OECD, the UK Government and the CBI with helping to stamp out such activity.
Richard Murphy, a professor in practice in international political economy at City, University of London disagrees with that sentiment.
In his blog on Monday, he wrote: “Once more we learn that the rich, famous and those with the means to buy secrecy about the things they’d rather the world did not know about have found lawyers, bankers and accountants to service their needs in those murky places commonly called tax havens.
“The focus of what will be said over the next few days will be on who did what, where, with what consequence. That’s the way our media works.”
“But the real questions are systemic, and are what really happens, who makes it happen, why does it happen, what is the cost and (most importantly) what can be done about it?”
