Alles rejects ICIJ shell company allegations
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles, denied allegations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in its Pandora Papers findings that he used shell companies to own properties in London, claiming that the allegations had originated from local sources.
The ICIJ’s Pandora Papers, based on leaked records and the United Kingdom’s public property register, shows that Alles, a media tycoon and politician, owns two British Virgin Islands companies that hold properties in London.
Pandora Papers are based on 11.9 million leaked documents obtained by ICIJ that were at the core of a 2021 global investigation exposing the financial deals and hidden assets of politicians, celebrities, business people and criminals in more than 200 countries.
The files came from 14 offshore service providers that specialized in setting up shell companies and trusts in tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions.
Alles claimed the allegations had originated from local sources and said he did not respond to an ICIJ email on the allegation.
“I didn’t even reply. Just because a journalist from Washington or somewhere writes to me, I’m not there to reply to any of those. Let them investigate, he told reporters when he was questioned about the ICIJ findings last week.
“I am not going to comment on all this crap. The only thing I am going to say is I’m happy that I have been looking at all these posts, what they put,” he said referring to the local sources who he believes to have given false information about him.
ICIJ’s investigations have found that Alles’ Brompton Properties Ltd. owns a flat in an affluent area of London that was purchased for about $960,000 in 2006.
His second company, Banham Ventures Ltd., the ICIJ findings said, has owned a separate property near the city’s posh Chelsea neighbourhood since 2008. They said the UK records had not listed the purchase price.
The funds used to finance the BVI companies came from Alles’ work as a businessman, according to a declaration in the leaked files.
Alles, 63, entered politics in 2010, after a stint as the head of the Civil Aviation Authority. He was appointed Sri Lanka’s public security minister in charge of the police last year.
When asked if he would like to respond to the ICIJ’s findings, he said: “Who are they? They’re a bunch of journalists. Just because they are international journalists, they’re like you all.”
“I’m not going to answer anything on that. I can also say I am an investigative journalist and write something about someone. In their report did you see they have all those companies and they say they have not been able to get any details?”
-economynext.com
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