Pandora Papers’ Claims Threaten Royal Family’s Safety -jordan

Jordanian authorities say the Pandora Papers’ claims threaten royal family’s safety.

The ‘Pandora Papers’ is an investigation based on one of the biggest-ever leaks of financial documents which, on Sunday, exposed a hidden world of shielded wealth belonging to hundreds of politicians and billionaires.

Considered as one of the largest ever global media investigations, the Pandora Papers involved more than 600 journalists who, together, analysed some 11.9 million documents from financial services companies around the world.

They found links between almost 1,000 companies in offshore havens and 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including more than a dozen serving heads of state and government.

Jordan’s royal court Monday rejected as “distorted” claims made in the so-called Pandora Papers that King Abdullah II created a network of offshore companies to build a $100 million overseas property empire.

It said that the reports “included inaccuracies and distorted and exaggerated the facts”, and that revealing the properties’ addresses was “a flagrant security breach and a threat to His Majesty’s and his family’s safety”.

The files show King Abdullah II, who has faced angry protests against austerity measures in recent years, created a network of offshore companies and tax havens to amass a $100 million property empire between 2003 and 2017, including 15 homes from Malibu, California to Washington and London.

The Jordanian embassy in Washington declined to comment, but the BBC cited lawyers for the king saying all the properties were bought with personal wealth, and that it was common practice for high profile individuals to purchase properties via offshore companies for privacy and security reasons.

(AFP)