Pandora Papers: another blockbuster document leak from ICIJ

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has published details of another trove of documents leaked from offshore services firms, dubbed the Pandora Papers.

Reports on its investigation published on its website today say the documents expose the financial secrets of more than 330 politicians, 130 billionaires, as well as celebrities, drug deals, and royal family members.

The ICIJ said the leaked files, amounting to 2.94 terabytes of data, came from a range of jurisdictions including the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Hong Kong, Belize, Panama, and South Dakota.

The document leak was larger than its previous exposés, the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, said the ICIJ.

A team of more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries trawled the files for information. The only New Zealand outlets provided with access to the data were TVNZ and the NZ Herald.

Vladmimir Plahotniuc

Reports by TVNZ and the Herald this morning focused on former Molodovan politician Vladmimir Plahotniuc, who used a New Zealand foreign trust, the Otiv Trust, created by the Auckland office of financial services firm Asiaciti Trust.

Plahotniuc was last year charged with involvement in the theft of US$1 billion from Moldovan banks in 2014-15.

According to the Herald and TVNZ, the trust was created in 2011 for the benefit of his ex-wife Oxana Childescu and was sole shareholder of New Zealand company Mavogan Overseas Investments Ltd.

Companies Office records show Mavogan was removed from the company register on June 24 this year. The company’s shareholder was named as AsiaTrust New Zealand Ltd until 2017 when it was replaced by a Cyprus entity.

In a statement, Asiaciti Trust said it was committed to the highest business standards and ensuring that its operations complied with laws and regulations.

“We maintain a strong compliance programme and each of our offices have passed third party audits for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism practices in recent years, which reflects our intense focus on this area. No compliance programme is infallible – and when an issue is identified, we take necessary steps with regard to the client engagement and make the appropriate notifications to regulatory agencies.”

It said information provided to the ICIJ included many inaccuracies and lacked important details, “which have led to grossly misleading inferences and conclusions about Asiaciti Trust”.