The secret real estate portfolio in the United Kingdom is over US$5,451.6 million. World

The royal family of Qatar, Russian oligarchs and prominent British businessmen are on the list of those who acquired wealth in India. United Kingdom Priced in excess of £4,000 million (4,700 million euros, US$5,451.6 million) through companies registered “offshore” or in tax havens, the BBC disclosed within the investigation of the so-called Pandora Papers.

According to leaked documents, which British public channels had access to, the real estate portfolio accumulated in this country by covert buyers includes more than 1,500 properties acquired through opaque means.

The BBC reported that the Qatari royal family, through firms based in the tax haven, bought two houses in one of London’s most exclusive areas, overlooking Regent’s Park, in order to save millions of pounds in taxes.

Other members of the Al-Thani monarchy also own several properties in the United Kingdom, thanks to these financial arrangements – which are legal in this country – with a value that ranges from £650 million (763 million euros, US$885.88 million). is more.

Similarly, the wife of British businessman Philip Greene bought properties in London when the couple’s textile empire, the BHS department store owner and the Arcadia Company, which integrated stores such as Topshop and Topman, was about to crumble.

According to the BBC, Tina Green acquired, in 2016, an apartment in the London borough of Mayfair for £15 million (17.6 million euros) and her daughter’s house near Buckingham Palace for £10.6 million (12.4 million euros), according to the BBC. a house for .

Ukrainian banker Gennady Bogolyubov, who is being investigated by the US FBI for money laundering, is also among the Pandora Papers leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Bogolyubov, the co-founder of PrivatBank, nationalized by Ukrainian authorities for fraud in 2016, owns assets worth 400 million pounds (469 million euros) in the United Kingdom, of which a building stands out in Trafalgar Square.

Most of the banker’s assets around the world have been frozen since 2017 while he has legal proceedings initiated by Privatbank in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Another name that appears in the investigation is that of Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev, as his son Said, who has British nationality, owns an office building which he sold for 40 million pounds (46.9 million euros) through offshore firms. Bought more than

In response to a repression campaign launched in 2020 by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko against pro-democracy movements, the United Kingdom and the European Union imposed sanctions on the Minsk regime, which were also extended to the dictator’s close allies and partners. , like Mikhail Gutseriev himself.

London and Brussels believe that the founder businessman of the Safmar Group, interested in oil and coal, is one of the “main investors in Belarus” and “a long-time partner of Alexander Lukashenko”.

Lawyers for Saeed Gutseriev, who holds a stake in Safmar, told the BBC that he “has no business relationship with his father,” reminding that Mikhail no longer has any ties with the company.