Queen faces taxing times
THE Queen’s private tax affairs have been exposed in a huge cache of documents leaked from an advisory firm that specialises in setting up offshore trusts to minimise tax.
Also named in the leak are businessman James Packer; actor Nicole Kidman and her country music singer husband Keith Urban; Macquarie Bank boss Nicholas Moore; and the new AFL chairman, Richard Goyder, over an entity linked to his role as Wesfarmers boss.
The cache of 13.4 million documents from the firm, Appleby, was leaked to a consortium of investigative journalists.
The documents, dubbed the Paradise Papers, are said to show the Duchy of Lancaster, which handles the Queen’s investments, holds funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
About $20 million of the Queen’s private cash is alleged to to be tied up in offshore portfolios, including in an investment in a British retailer called BrightHouse that has been accused of exploiting poor and vulnerable people.
There is no suggestion any investment is illegal, and the duchy reportedly said the BrightHouse holding was tiny.
Appleby specialises in setting up standard, legal and legitimate offshore structures for an extensive list of reputable companies and individuals.
It was not clear whether any Australian individuals and companies named in last night’s report were in breach of any local laws.
However, the Australian Taxation Office confirmed it was investigating the papers.
Mr Packer was named in connection to his previous interests with Asian gaming tycoon Lawrence Ho, when the pair were setting up Studio City casino in Hong Kong.
Their joint-venture company is alleged to have asked Appleby to establish an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands, Four Corners reported last night.
A spokesman for Mr Packer declined to comment, and Mr Ho’s company, Melco Crown, had last night not responded to requests for comment.
Kidman and Urban are alleged to have asked Appleby to establish a company in the Bahamas in 2015, with the intention of buying property in the tax haven.
Macquarie Group executives, including Mr Moore, were named in relation to a network of legitimate offshore entities established by Appleby to house the group’s infrastructure investments.
Mr Goyder, the departing Wesfarmers CEO, was named because Appleby jointly, and legitimately, administered Wesfarmers’ Bermuda-based insurance arm.
Last night’s Four Corners also alleged Michael Hutchence’s business manager, Colin Diamond, shifted the INXS front man’s millions of dollars into an offshore account.