Monday, October 04, 2021

Revealed: Czech PM Used Offshore Companies to Buy £13m French Mansion

THE GUARDIAN: Pandora papers reveal Andrej Babiš financed purchase via secret loans through three overseas firms

Andrej Babiš is the second-richest man in the Czech Republic. Illustration: Guardian Design

THE GUARDIAN: Pandora papers reveal Andrej Babiš financed purchase via secret loans through three overseas firms

Andrej Babiš, the billionaire Czech prime minister, is under pressure to explain a convoluted offshore structure he used to finance his purchase of a £13m mansion in the south of France.

The disclosure that Babiš controls a group of overseas companies comes as he contests a general election in the Czech Republic this week – and represents the latest embarrassing turn for a former oligarch who entered politics promising to fight corruption. Babiš is the second-richest man in the Czech Republic with a net worth of £2.7bn but his previous business dealings have provoked public protests and an ongoing clash with the EU.

Details of the secretive offshore arrangements set up by the prime minister are disclosed in the Pandora papers, the largest ever trove of leaked offshore data. The leaked documents have been shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with the Guardian, the BBC and other media around the world. » | Simon Goodley, Robert Tait and Scilla Alecci | Sunday, October 3, 2021

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Pandora Papers: Ein internationales Recherchenetz beleuchtet, wie Präsidenten, Autokraten und ein König Steuern umgehen: Dem Internationalen Netzwerk investigativer Journalisten sind fast zwölf Millionen vertrauliche Dokumente zugespielt worden. Ihre Enthüllungen belasten 35 Staats- und Regierungschefs und Hunderte von Politikerinnen und Politikern. »