FOLLOW THE MONEY
Panama Papers expose cash trail amid hunt for Red Bull fugitive
The Bangkok billionaire family that co-founded Red Bull, the world’s leading energy drink, uses offshore companies to cloak purchases of jets and luxury properties, including the posh London home where the clan’s fugitive son was last seen.
The Yoovidhya family’s efforts to hide assets show how easily major global financial players can routinely — and, usually, legally — move billions of dollars with little or no oversight.
The family’s confidential deals were inadvertently exposed by the jet-setting son Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya after repeatedly failing to show up in court for allegedly racing away in his Ferrari after slamming into a motorcycle cop in a deadly hit-and-run in Bangkok. More than 120 Instagram and Facebook postings by friends and family led The Associated Press earlier this year to the Yoovidhyas’ London vacation home, where Vorayuth refused to comment.
Thai authorities revoked his passport and issued an arrest warrant, but say they don’t know where he is.
Now the investigation into Vorayuth’s whereabouts has led to the Panama Papers. Yoovidhya family financial arrangements are outlined in those records.
The Panama Papers leak was shared with news organizations in 2016, putting wealthy and powerful people in more than 70 countries under scrutiny.
Since then, political leaders have been thrown out of office, including Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, kicked out last month after being accused of concealing assets. Founders of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which owned the leaked documents, were charged with money-laundering.
The Yoovidhya family’s network of offshore companies — set up by Mossack Fonseca — was so complex that, until now, they managed to keep the family name and Red Bull brand out of the spotlight. But the Panama Papers show the family has used offshore, anonymous companies in tax havens for more than two decades.
The Yoovidhyas, who share ownership of Red Bull with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz, did not respond to requests for comment.
There’s no indication the Yoovidhya family’s accounts violated any laws, but the extremely confidential deals also can be used to evade taxes or launder money.
Days after the 32-year-old Vorayuth’s attorney told a Bangkok court his client couldn’t show up because he was on a mission in the U.K., a reporter called out questions to the Red Bull heir on his London doorstep:
“What is your mission in the U.K., Boss? What are you doing here? Are you going to Thailand to meet with prosecutors?”
Smiling slightly, eyes averted, Vorayuth gave no answer. Hours later, he and his parents hurried with suitcases out of the home. That was in April, the last time Vorayuth was seen in public.
The five-storey, brick home is the address Vorayuth’s father, Chalerm Yoovidhya, gave when incorporating Thai Siam Winery Ltd. in the U.K. in 2002, and that his mother, Daranee Yoovidhya, used when opening a food-related business there in 2006.
But the listed owner of the home, and at least four other properties in London, isn’t the Yoovidhyas — it’s Karnforth Investments Ltd., incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, according to the Panama Papers.
Even though the Yoovidhyas and Mateschitz own Red Bull, the main shareholder of the firm’s U.K. unit is another British Virgin Islands firm called Jerrard Co. Ltd.
Here’s where it gets complicated: Karnforth has just one shareholder: Jerrard. And Jerrard is held by a third offshore company, which controls a fourth, JK Fly. Who owns JK Fly? Karnforth.
The Yoovidhyas’ offshore companies overlap with stand-in brokers, secretaries, directors and officers — people legally paid small amounts to sign forms and attend directors meetings in lieu of the true owners, whose names remain confidential.
For years, money has flowed back and forth, the documents show.
For example, in 2005, Jerrard loaned Karnforth US$6.5 million to buy two London properties. In 2012, Jerrard cancelled the mortgages, giving Karnforth ownership. Since 2010, JK Fly has owed Karnforth, its sole shareholder, about US$14 million in an interest-free loan to purchase aircraft.
“Anonymous money transfers? Those are pretty common in illegal schemes, but they’re also common in legal schemes,” said Australia’s Griffith University professor Jason Sharman. What matters, Sharman said, is that the agents moving the money know who the true owners are. And that has not always happened, the Panama Papers show.
In 2010, and again in 2013, the papers show auditors at Mossack Fonseca raised concerns about the Yoovidhya firms Karnforth and Jerrard. Documents verifying the true owners were missing.
“Failure to keep such files up to date will result in high administrative and statutory fines,” Mossack Fonseca auditors told the U.K.based corporate services agent handling their accounts.
In an unrelated case, when Mossack Fonseca’s Panama office asked their own agent in Thailand to provide due diligence on a prominent Bangkok billionaire, he flat-out refused, the papers show.
“This is a CROCK. Any rich person here knows someone or is related to someone in politics,” Steve Wagner in Bangkok’s Mossack Fonseca office wrote when asked to supply certified passport copies, names of the ultimate beneficial owners, bank reference letters and more.
“We have provided all due diligence on our clients and we are no (sic) going to anger our best clients by these witch hunts and investigative internet searches that are going on in the back offices of Panama,” he wrote.
Wagner did not respond to requests for comment.
While other governments were swift in responding to Panama Papers revelations, that has not been the case in Thailand. More than 1,400 Thai individuals were identified in the documents, but the government calls the reports rumours.
In 1987, Vorayuth’s grandfather, Chaleo Yoovidhya, partnered his company T.C. Pharma with Mateschitz to market a caffeinepowered energy drink popular in Thailand. Today, it’s sold in 170 countries. Red Bull also has race cars and jets, and sponsors extreme athletes. Last year, it reported US$6 billion in profits.
Vorayuth’s 2012 accident, in which he dragged police Sgt.-Maj. Wichean Glanprasert and his motorcycle along the road and then sped away from the mangled body, has raised concerns about impunity and Red Bull from around the world.
For more than four years, Vorayuth repeatedly failed to show up when ordered to face criminal charges.
Police say Vorayuth disputes a reckless-driving charge, claiming the officer swerved in front of him. A speeding charge expired after a year. The more serious charge of hit-and-run, which carries a penalty of up to six months in jail, expires Sept. 3 if he isn’t apprehended.
The arrest warrant may have cramped his lifestyle — he’s no longer seen with Team Red Bull at Grand Prix races, and his friends and family stopped posting pictures of him at parties. But the biggest impact may be the clues he left that expose his family’s offshore deals.
On the face of it, nothing illegal is taking place, said City University London professor Ronen Palan.
“But this whole thing smacks of tax avoidance,” Palan said. “At the very least.”