One’s cash is orfshore
Leaked papers reveal royal estate’s £10m investments
THE Queen was dragged into a financial scandal last night as it emerged £10million of her wealth was held in offshore havens.
The money was invested in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda by the Duchy of Lancaster estate, who provide her with an income and handle investments for her £500million private estate.
Some went to rent-to-own firm BrightHouse, who were forced to compensate customers after finance watchdogs found they had not acted as a “responsible lender”, and failed off-licence chain Threshers.
Financial experts said the investments were not illegal and there is no suggestion that the Queen is not paying tax.
The Duchy said they were 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 should be investing in offshore finance.
Labour MP Grahame Morris said: “This is shameful. 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 business investments are carried out responsibly.
“I don’t think the public will be impressed.”
Colleague Stella Creasy added: “Whoever made the choice to put the Royal family’s money into a tax haven and invest in these legal loan sharks, heads certainly have to roll.”
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 racehorses.
Details of the offshore investments were revealed in leaked files called the Paradise Papers, which expose the global environments in which tax abuses can thrive.
Also revealed was a previously unknown £341million 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 controversial tax havens.
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 who help clients set up in overseas jurisdictions with low or zero tax rates.
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called for a Westminster probe into why the Tories have failed to crack down on tax havens.
The material was obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.