Putin and the 'Dirty Dozen': 11million leaked documents reveal how TWELVE world leaders – plus Russian leader's inner circle, British politicians and Lords – hide their millions in tax havens

The biggest financial data leak in history has revealed how Vladimir Putin's inner circle and a 'dirty dozen' list of world leaders are using offshore tax havens to hide their wealth.

A host of celebrities, British politicians and the global rich are all implicated in the so-called Panama Papers - a leak of 11million files which contain more data than the amount stolen by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

Documents were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, and show how the company has allegedly helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

Lord Ashcroft, Baroness Pamela Sharples and former Tory MP Michael Mates are among the British politicians named in the data release, while several dictators make up the 12 world leaders. 

German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung obtained the files and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists but the identity of the source who leaked them and how it was done is unknown.

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Revelation: The so-called Panama Papers, part of a leak of 11million files, implicate those in Russian president Vladimir Putin's inner circle, along with families and associates of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad (right)

King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud (pictured left) was also named

Argentina's president Mauricio Macri (left) and Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko (right) were listed

Families and associates of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, Libya's former leader Colonel Gaddafi and Syria's president Bashar al-Assad are also said to have benefited from tax havens. 

The unprecedented leak of confidential documents reveal:

• A network of secret offshore deals and loans worth £1.4 billion that leads to Russian President Vladimir Putin;
• Twelve national leaders, including the King of Saudi Arabia, president of Ukraine and the prime minister of Iceland, are among 143 politicians revealed to have offshore accounts, including several dictators;
• Six members of the House of Lords, three former Conservative MPs and dozens of donors to British political parties are among those said to have benefited from tax havens;
• A member of Fifa’s ethics committee, which is supposed to be reforming the organisation, worked as a lawyer for people charged with bribery and corruption. 

Putin's name is not included in the records but his friends and associates appear to have earned millions of pounds from deals that would have been difficult to secure without his patronage. The BBC and The Guardian set out the details in the documents.

Among the disclosures are that six members of the House of Lords and three former Conservative MPs had offshore accounts, although the only British politicians so far named are Lord Ashcroft, Tory peer Baroness Pamela Sharples and former Conservative MP Michael Mates. Dozens of donors to UK political parties had similar arrangements, the leak reveals.

Campaigners said David Cameron now faces a ‘credibility test’, having promised to end tax secrecy four years ago.

Lord Ashcroft (left), Baroness Pamela Sharples and former Tory MP Michael Mates (right) are among the British politicians also named in the data release

UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (pictured centre) is one of the world leaders named

Convicted former Ukraine prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko (left) and former prime minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili (right) are among those revealed to have offshore accounts

The ex-prime minister of Iraq Ayad Allawi (pictured) is also said to have benefited from using tax havens

The Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson (left) and former prime minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (right) are both named in the leaked documents

While using offshore companies is not illegal, the practice has long been morally dubious and is under the spotlight amid a wider examination of tax avoidance by large companies such as Google.

Mr Cameron has vowed to end ‘tax secrecy’ in the UK. But critics say little has been done – with the Prime Minister due to hold his latest summit on the issue next month.

Mr Cameron said four years ago that some offshore schemes were ‘not fair and not right’.

‘Frankly some of these schemes where people are parking huge amounts of money offshore and taking loans back just to minimise their tax rates, it is not morally acceptable,’ he added.

The Prime Minister will now come under intense pressure to abolish all the UK’s tax havens, including the crown dependencies Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

In 2012, it emerged that the Prime Minister’s father Ian ran a network of entirely legal offshore investment funds to grow the family fortune. The leaked records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with The Guardian and the BBC.

The data covers nearly 40 years, from 1977 to the end of 2015, and lists nearly 15,600 paper companies set up for clients who wanted to keep their financial affairs secret.

Thousands were created by UBS and HSBC, the latter of which was fined by the US government for laundering money from Iran.

Mossack Fonseca is Panamanian but runs a worldwide operation.

Among national leaders with offshore wealth are Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, prime minister of Iceland – who now faces calls for a snap election.

The leaks also reveal a suspected billion-dollar money laundering ring that was run by a Russian bank and involved close associates of President Putin. 

Mossack Fonseca said in a statement: ‘Our firm has never been accused or charged in connection with criminal wrongdoing.

Families and associates of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak (pictured left), Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi (right) were also implicated in the data leak

Former Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (pictured) is also named in the data release

Former prime minister of Jordan Ali Abu al-Ragheb (left) and former president of Sudan Ahmad Ali al-Mirghani (right) were both listed in the leaked confidential documents

‘If we detect suspicious activity or misconduct, we are quick to report it to the authorities.’ 

Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, said the documents covered the day-to-day business at Mossack Fonseca for the past 40 years.

He said: 'I think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents.'

• More details about the leak will be revealed in Richard Bilton's investigation, BBC Panorama: Tax Havens of the Rich and Powerful Exposed, to air tomorrow evening on BBC One at 7.30pm. 

Revealed: The money trail that leads from Vladimir Putin's best friend and head of his 'crony bank' all the way back round to the Russian president

Leaked financial data reveals how a network of secret offshore deals and huge loans worth £1.4billion created a trail beginning and ending with Vladimir Putin, it has been reported.

A massive leak of documents reveal how the Russian president's best friend Sergei Roldugin and the man who heads up Putin's 'crony bank' Yuri Kovalchuk are linked to the movement of money offshore.

Bank Rossiya, which Roldugin owns 3.2 per cent of, sent instructions to Swiss lawyers who in turn got in touch with Mossack Fonseca. The Panamanian law firm then set up offshore company Sandalwood Continental Ltd in the British Virgin Islands and other offshores linked to Roldugin.

The so-called Panama Papers implicate those in Russian president Vladimir Putin's inner circle. This graphic shows how Putin's best friend Sergei Roldugin, who owns 3.2 per cent of Bank Rossiya, and the man who heads the bank up, Yuri Kovalchuk, are linked to a trail which has seen money moved offshore via Swiss lawyers, Mossack Fonseca, and a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned VTB bank in Cyprus to a firm set up in the British Virgin Islands called Sandalwood Continental Ltd. Money was then lent to Ozon, which owns the private Igora ski resort outside St Petersburg, the place where Putin's daughter Katya got married

But the money later found its way back to Russia via Ozon, which was lent $11.3million by Sandalwood in 2010/11. Ozon is the owner of the private Igora ski resort outside St Petersburg, where Putin's daughter Katya got married, according to The Guardian.

Putin's name is not included in the leaked documents but his friends and associates appear to have earned millions of pounds from deals that would have been difficult to secure without his patronage.

Meanwhile Roldugin, a professional musician, is said to have accumulated a fortune by being put in control of a series of assets worth at least $100million.

Last week a senior Russian official revealed how the Kremlin was braced for an expose on Mr Putin's alleged secret fortune.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, one of the president's closest aides, dismissed the allegations as false and politically motivated even before they were published.

He said a number of foreign secret services were behind the claims, which suggest that Mr Putin has amassed a secret personal fortune of more than £28billion ($40billion). 

Former Tory MPs, party donors and David Cameron’s late father among those named in huge leak of documents linked to Panama law firm

Ian Cameron (pictured with his son), a stockbroker and multi-millionaire, was a client of a controversial offshore law firm based in Panama

Former Tory MPs, party donors and the Prime Minister’s late father were named last night in a huge leak of millions of documents exposing the use of offshore tax regimes by the world’s richest people.

Ian Cameron, a stockbroker and multi-millionaire, was a client of a controversial offshore law firm based in Panama.

He was accused of using the firm, Mossack Fonseca, to shield his investment fund, Blairmore Holdings, Inc., from British taxes.

A series of British politicians were also said last night to be implicated in the massive data release.

It was reported that six members of the House of Lords, three former Conservative MPs and dozens of donors to British political parties have been shown to have had offshore assets.

None were named last night but revelations about the hidden wealth of politicians and their supporters will trigger nerves in Number Ten as names and details emerge from the leak this week.

If Tory donors or senior figures are implicated, it will be a huge embarrassment to the Prime Minister.

The BBC and the Guardian last night set out details from the so-called ‘Panama Papers’ – 11.5million files leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm.

They show that 12 national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known to have been using offshore tax havens.

Close associates of Russia’s President Putin are also implicated, although the Russian president’s name is not said to appear directly on any documents.

The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with the Guardian and the BBC.

Though there is nothing unlawful about using offshore companies, the files raise fundamental questions about the ethics of such tax havens – and the revelations are likely to provoke urgent calls for reforms of a system that critics say is arcane and open to abuse.

Among national leaders with offshore wealth are Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister; Ayad Allawi, ex-interim prime minister and former vice-president of Iraq; Petro Poroshenko, president of Ukraine; Alaa Mubarak, son of Egypt’s former president; and the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.

The leaks also reveal a suspected billion-dollar money laundering ring that was run by a Russian bank and involved close associates of President Putin.

The operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.