QUEEN’S £10M TAX HAVEN SCANDAL
Leaked papers reveal royal estate has offshore investments
THE Queen has £10million invested in offshore tax havens, explosive leaked papers revealed last night.
Some funds controlled by her Duchy of Lancaster estate even went to a retailer accused of exploiting the poor, the files on wealthy investors showed.
Labour MP Grahame Morris said: “This is shameful.”
THE Queen was dragged into a financial scandal last night as it emerged £10million of her wealth was held in offshore havens.
The cash was invested in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda by the Duchy of Lancaster estate, which provides her with an income and handles investments for her £500million private estate.
Some even went to rent-to-own firm BrightHouse, which was forced to compensate thousands of customers after finance watchdogs found it had not acted as a “responsible lender”, and also failed off-licence chain Threshers.
Experts said the investments were not illegal and there is no suggestion the Queen is not paying tax. The Duchy said it was not involved in decisions made by funds and there is no suggestion the Queen had any knowledge of the specific investments made on her behalf.
But some said questions will asked about whether the monarch’s money should be invested in offshore finance. Labour MP Grahame Morris said: “This is shameful. I’m appalled by these revelations. “Even if it was the Duchy of Lancaster investing the money in the Cayman Islands, it is ultimately the Queen’s responsibility to ensure her investments are carried out responsibly. I don’t think the British public will be impressed.” Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “Whoever made the choice to put the Royal Family’s money into a tax haven, heads certainly have to roll as a matter of urgency.” Graham Smith of Republic said: “We should expect higher standards from our head of state. We need complete transparency about how the royal family invests this money and also on how much tax they pay.” The Queen, who voluntarily pays tax only on her private income, is worth an estimated £340million and has a property portfolio which includes Balmoral and Sandringham, an extensive art collection and high-value racehorses. The details of the offshore investments emerged in leaked files dubbed the Paradise Papers, which expose the global environments in
which tax avoidance thrives. Also revealed was a $450million offshore trust that has sheltered the wealth of Tory donor Lord Ashcroft.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “The Prime Minister has questions to answer. What did she and the Conservative Party know about Ashcroft’s tax affairs and what due diligence checks were applied before she agreed to the Party accepting significant donations from him?”
There is no suggestion that Lord Ashcroft has done anything unlawful.
Many of the world’s most famous people and companies were revealed to have money invested in the controversial tax havens.
Offshore dealings by some of Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors were revealed, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.
U2 frontman Bono reportedly used a Malta-based firm to buy a share in a shopping centre in Lithuania through a firm called Nude Estates.
After the firm set up a Lithuanian company to hold the property, the business was transferred to a firm called Nude Estates 1 in Guernsey, where no tax is paid on profits. A spokeswoman for Bono said he was a passive, minority investor.
Twitter and Facebook were shown to have received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.
Questions were also raised over the purchase of Everton Football Club.
The 13.4million leaked files are from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens.
Most of the data comes from a company called Appleby, a Bermuda-based legal services provider at the top end of the offshore industry, helping clients set up in overseas jurisdictions with low or zero tax rates. Labour MP Mr Morris added: “It’s outrageous that some of the world’s wealthiest people are using these sort of tax avoidance mechanisms to make more money and avoid paying their fair share of UK tax. Taxes that fund our vital public services.” Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called for a Westminster probe into why the Tories have failed to crack down on tax havens. Tax havens are causing massive financial problems across the globe. This week leading economist Gabriel Zucman will call them “one of the key engines of the rise in global inequality”. Christian Aid’s Toby Quantrill said: “These revelations are further evidence of the extent of the global offshore system. “A system which reinforces the cycle of inequality, perpetuating the entrenchment of power at the top.” The material was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.