Recordsdata obtained by ICIJ declare Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his companions established a community of offshore corporations in 2012.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s workplace has sought to justify his use of offshore corporations as defending him in opposition to pro-Russian forces, following leaked revelations within the Pandora Papers.
A former comic, Zelenskyy was elected president in 2019 on guarantees to struggle corruption and cut back the affect of oligarchs within the ex-Soviet nation.
However the information obtained by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and revealed on Sunday claimed that Zelenskyy and his companions established a community of offshore corporations again in 2012.
The Pandora Papers are based mostly on paperwork leaked to the ICIJ and uncovered the offshore dealings of kings, presidents and prime ministers, together with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In response to its findings, two of the offshore corporations belonging to Zelenskyy’s companions have been used to purchase three lavish properties in central London.
The report additionally discovered that Zelenskyy, simply earlier than he was elected, transferred his stake in one of many offshore corporations to his high aide Serhiy Shefir – the goal of a taking pictures assault final month.
An adviser to Zelenskyy’s chief of workers stated on Monday that the president had created the offshore corporations to “shield” the group’s incomes in opposition to the “aggressive actions” of the “corrupt” authorities of then pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
“Journalists have de facto confirmed the president’s absolute respect for the requirements of anti-corruption laws,” Mykhailo Podoliak instructed the AFP information company.
Podoliak, nonetheless, didn’t touch upon the small print of different revelations from the investigation, which stated that the president’s spouse has continued to obtain dividends from an offshore firm.
Supporters of one other ex-president, Petro Poroshenko – a billionaire defeated by Zelenskyy in 2019 and who additionally appeared in an earlier investigation into offshore corporations – accused Zelenskyy of tax evasion.
“He and his accomplices took funds offshore with out paying any taxes to the Ukrainian funds,” Iryna Gerashchenko, a lawmaker from Poroshenko’s faction, wrote on Fb.
Earlier than changing into president, Zelenskyy performed a historical past instructor in a comedy sequence who was elected president after denouncing endemic corruption.
In his election marketing campaign, he cultivated a picture of a frontrunner searching for to “break the system” and promised a fierce struggle in opposition to corruption in certainly one of Europe’s poorest nations.
The Pandora Papers are the most recent in a sequence of mass ICIJ leaks of monetary paperwork, from LuxLeaks in 2014, to the 2016 Panama Papers, which triggered the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland and paved the best way for the pressured resignation of the chief of Pakistan.
They have been adopted by the Paradise Papers in 2017 and FinCen information in 2020.