Hours after the Pandora papers were released to the public, several world leaders have come out to give their response regarding the report.
In their response, most of these leaders have denied any wrongdoing after they were featured in a huge leak of financial documents from offshore assets.
The 12 million filed-report contained the names of the serving and retired world leaders. Some of the leaders that were mentioned in it include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, former Britain Prime Minister Tonny Blair, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin Al – Hussein among others.
Reacting to the report, Jordan’s royal palace noted that is not unusual nor against the law for the King to own property in other countries.
The document indicated that King Abdullah has secretly spent over $100 million on a property empire in the UK and US since ascending to the throne in 1999.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on the other hand questioned the reliability of the “unsubstantiated” information contained in the report that linked President Putin and members of his inner circle to a mass of hidden wealth.
“For now it is just not clear what this information is and what it is about,” he told reporters as reported by BBC.
“We didn’t see any hidden wealth of Putin’s inner circle in there,” the diplomat added.
In a tweet, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who reportedly failed to declare an offshore investment company he used to purchase two villas for £12m in the south of France, claimed that the report was an attempt to influence his country’s elections which is set for next week. The Prime Minister further insisted that he had anything illegal or wrong with his nation.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta who was linked to 13 offshore companies together with his family members noted that the report will hence enhance “the financial transparency in Kenya and around the globe. The president also promised to respond comprehensively to the report after he gets back to Kenya from his state visit to the US.
Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera, who was accused of selling a copper and iron mine in an environmentally sensitive area, denied being involved in or having information on the sale of the said mine.
Lastly, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed to investigate citizens who issued information about him to the Pandora Papers. Several Pakistanis, including members of his cabinet, are said to have leaked the information.
