Paradise Papers Revealed BBC News Special

This is BBC News with a special

programme as the first results

are released of a special

investigation into the offshore tax

secrets of some of the world's

richest and most powerful people -

it follows a leak of documents known

as the Paradise Papers.

The BBC Panorama programme has

discovered that millions of pounds

of the Queen's private money

is invested in offshore funds based

in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda

by her private estate,

the Duchy of Lancaster.

The revelation comes from a cache

of more than 13 million secret

documents - one tax

expert says it's likely

to embarrass Buckingham Palace.

The papers also disclose how

Donald Trump's commerce secretary

has business links with Russian

allies of President Putin

who are subject to US

sanctions And the spotlight

is on the Conservative Party donor

Lord Ashcroft: the files suggest

he could face a tax bill of tens

of millions because of the way

he may have used an offshore trust.

Do you have tens of millions in an

offshore trust that you secretly

control? Does that mean you can

avoid millions in tax through that

trust? Why don't you talk to me, it

would be great to hear your view?

trust? Why don't you talk to me, it

would be great to hear your view?

Over the next half an hour,

this BBC News special programme

will report on the first revelations

of the Paradise Papers -

and the issues they raise

about the secretive world of

offshore finance and tax avoidance.

Good evening and

welcome to BBC News.

Reporting on one

of the biggest ever leaks

of offshore secrets,

13 million documents,

mostly from an offshore law firm

called Appleby; they are known

as the Paradise Papers

and they reveal the tax affairs

of rich and powerful

people around the world.

They've been obtained

by the German newspaper

Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared

with the International Consortium

of Investigative Journalists -

including in the UK,

The Guardian and the BBC's

Panorama programme.

They show how the Duchy

of Lancaster, which is the Queen's

private estate, invested around

£10 million offshore.

Some of the money went into the off

licence chain Threshers which later

went bust owing more

than £17 million in tax.

And a small amount

went into BrightHouse,

the hire purchase company that's

been accused of charging

inflated interest rates.

The leaked documents also

reveal that this man -

Wilbur Ross, Donald Trump's friend

and commerce secretary -

has business ties with Russian

allies of President Putin

who are subject to US sanctions.

And they suggest Lord Ashcroft,

the donor and former deputy chairman

of Britain's Conservative Party may

have ignored rules around how his

offshore investments were managed.

Other papers suggest

he retained his non domiciled status

while in the House of Lords,

despite reports he'd become

a permanent tax resident in the UK.

It's important to say that tax

avoidance is not illegal,

but it is controversial -

and these latest revelations

are bound to fuel the political

debate around offshore tax havens

and whether governments should do

more to clamp down on them.

Our first report is by

Richard Bilton from the BBC Panorama

team which has been investigating

the Paradise Papers.

It is an island paradise,

but there is a lot more to Bermuda

than just beaches and sun.

It is a tax haven,

secrecy and 0% tax rates.

One of the world's biggest offshore

companies, Appleby, is based here.

7 million documents

have been leaked.

For months we had to carry

out secret research.

That is the head office.

We have to be very careful,

because Appleby don't

know we have their data.

The leak is known as

the Paradise Papers.

It contains some of

the biggest names in Britain.

Like the Queen's private estate.

The Queen's investments are handled

by the Duchy of Lancaster.

Now, because of the files,

we can see exactly where some

of that money was going.

£10 million was invested

in tax havens.

It is perfectly legal

and there was no question that

tax was being avoided.

That should the monarch's

cash be going offshore?

If the cash was going abroad,

I would think it was being

extremely embarrassing.

We accept higher standards

of the Queen in terms of where

the investments are located.

The Duchy told us...

The Paradise Papers

also expose a new link

between President Trump's Government

and the Russians.

It is Wilbur Ross, he is President

Trump's commerce secretary.

This man is the sanctioned

friend of President Putin.

We have found that these two men

have a business Link.

Wilbur Ross said that he would cut

ties with companies that

could compromise his new role

in the US Government.

Your service has resulted

in you divesting yourself

of literally hundreds

of millions of dollars.

You did it to avoid any

conflict-of-interest, correct?

That is correct sir.

We don't think that is correct.

We found he has a stake

in a shipping company

Navigator Holdings,

one of its major clients

is a Russian company, Sibur.

A shareholder was sanctioned

by the US Government in 2014.

You don't want to get involved

with someone who gets involved,

or walks up to the line

with sanctioned individuals.

If you know anything

about the Russians, in the current

system it is easy to get dirty.

Don't go there, man.

Don't go there.

Mr Ross told us that none

of the funds he managed ever owned

a majority of Navigator shares

and he never met the Russian.

There are revelations

closer to home.

I, Michael Lord Ashcroft swear...

Lord Ashcroft was Tory

deputy chairman and gave

millions to the party.

But what we found in the files

could leave him facing a tax bill

of tens of millions.

A series of payments totalling

around $200 million were made to him

from a trust in Bermuda.

To avoid tax on those payments,

the trust must act independently.

If Lord Ashcroft ignored

the rules and made decisions,

he could face a big bill

from the taxman.

E-mails seen by us suggest a rising

sense of frustration among

the trustees that Lord Ashcroft

was not playing by the rules.

It looks like Lord Ashcroft

was controlling the trust

and expecting the trustees

to rubber-stamp his decisions.

I am Richard, I work for Panorama.

He wouldn't answer written questions

so I caught up with him

at the Tory party conference.

Do you have an offshore trust

with tens of millions that

you secretly control?

Why don't you just talk to me?

It'd be great to hear your view.

Dear, dear, dear.

Is that your response.

His lawyers later said that I had

started shouting something at him,

by which time he had walked away

and heard nothing of what I said.

We could have been sponsored,

we've done about a mile and a half.

Despite two minutes

of questions, Lord Ashcroft

would not give us his side.

I will not follow you in there.

Appleby told us that they do not

specialise in tax.

These are commercially

sensitive documents relating

to Appleby and its clients.

These are the first names

from the Paradise Papers,

but there are more to come

from this extraordinary link.

A little earlier Richard Bilton

told me more about some

of the information revealed

by the leak of the Paradise Papers.

This is an enormous leak, Panorama

has been working on this for the

best part of a year, poring over the

documents and there is an awful lot

in there and reveals a lot about

this world. The leak is from

Appleby, a company based in tax

havens who basically brokered deals

for rich individuals and for big

companies. In that offshore world,

tax havens, people go there for

simple reasons. They go there low

tax rates, for lax regulation and

secrecy. Most people go there for

those reasons, but that environment

creates a reason to go there if

perhaps you wanted to dodge tax or

worse. Through these documents, we

get to see that world, we get to see

the sort of deals that are talked

about and brokered.

You have been

working on this radio, what has it

been like carrying out this

investigation that has taken you all

around the world?

It has been an

enormous job, but it is a dramatic

leak I think. If you think of other

leaks, people are familiar with the

Panama papers, I and Panorama worked

on that last spring. That itself was

pretty expos of an dramatic because

it pulled back the curtain and

showed what the offshore world was

like. Why I think this is much

bigger and more dramatic,

particularly in Britain, is because

Appleby work in UK tax havens. They

have ten officers and are linked to

the UK, a secret empire of offshore,

a British empire of offshore. We can

see the sort of things they are

doing. Consequently, there are more

British people and British companies

in there. We're talking about

politicians, pop stars, sports

stars, multinational companies.

These are big people, and more and

more names will emerge in the coming

days.

And we will be showing

Richard Bilton's special edition

of Panorama here on the BBC

News Channel in the UK

and BBC World News in

around 15 minutes' time.

Less talk to our economics

correspondent. This is a huge leak

and it shows what the Duchy of

Lancaster was doing in investing the

Queen's private money.

She has

insight of the Duchy of Lancaster

which has hundreds of millions of

pounds on her behalf, she draws her

private income from it, that doesn't

necessarily take day-to-day interest

in individual financial investments.

That is important, because of those

100s of millions, perhaps tens of

millions went to the two offshore

finds, in Cayman Islands and

Bermuda. The one in the Cayman

Islands invested about £350,000 in a

private equity venture run by a UK

company which purchased to

retailers, one was Threshers which

went bust, owing £70 million to the

tax man, and the other was a company

where people go to get a server or a

washing machine, they paid by the

week and can pay more than the

initial purchase price. The

Financial Conduct Authority says it

needs to pay compensation to

thousands of customers, although

these are small investments by the

Queen, they are controversial.

Our royal correspondent

Nicholas Witchell is also with me.

Any reaction from the Palace?

No, other than to point out that the

Queen does pay tax on her private

income as we just heard that is

through the Duchy of Lancaster. It

is by association with this area of

investment activity that many would

regard as dubious, and that many

people would feel is not an

appropriate area for this particular

investor. I don't suppose she knows

anything about it, but it does seem

extraordinary and puzzling that her

advisers could have felt that it was

appropriate for someone whose

reputation is based so much and for

so long on setting a good example,

that they could have concluded that

it was appropriate for her money to

be put into these offshore funds. It

is important again to say that there

is no question of tax avoidance in

her case, as I mentioned she pays

voluntarily the equivalent of income

tax on her private income. The Duchy

of Lancaster has a Crown exemption,

but she does pay tax. It is this

association which is undoubtably

embarrassing.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has

tweeted his response to the news,

saying, Paradise Papers again prove

what I said at PMQs: There's one

rule for the super-rich and another

for the rest when it comes

to paying tax.

In the last hour the Shadow

Chancellor John McDonnell has put

out a statement in reaction

to the revelations in

which he says:

Let's delve a bit deeper now

into what's been revealed

about the finances of one

of President Trump's key

aides, the US Commerce

Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The Paradise Papers show that

Mr Ross has an interest

in Navigator Holdings,

a shipping company which earns

millions a year transporting oil

and gas for the Russian energy firm

Sibur.

Two Russians, who are shareholders

in Sibur, are currently subject

to various forms of sanction

by the United States.

One of them is this man,

Leonid Mikhelson...

The other is Gennady Timchenko, who

an old friend of President Putin.

A separate connection

between the Kremlin and Sibur

is that another of the company's

shareholders - Kirill Shamalov - is

married to the President's daughter.

The commerce department spokesman

said Mr Ross had never met the three

Russian shareholders.

Our Washington Correspondent Barbara

Plett-Usher spoke to me earlier

and I asked if there had been any

more reaction from President Trump's

administration to these revelations.

We have had that statement from the

commerce Department and the tone was

generally that Mr Ross hadn't done

anything illegal, it did not deny

that Mr Ross did have this financial

stake in the navigator shipping

company which does a lot of business

with the ration energy company, but

noted that the Russian company

itself had never been sanctioned,

even though we know is major

shareholders have been. It confirmed

that Mr Ross had been on the Board

of Directors of the shipping company

for two years, but it said he had

never met the oligarchs in question

or the son-in-law of President Uden.

It also said that Mr Ross had

reduced himself -- President Putin.

And that he was working closely with

ethics officials to uphold ethical

standards. Having said that, I think

there will still be questions about

potential conflict of interest,

because Mr Ross has a lot of

influence on sanctions and trade. It

also doesn't look very good in the

current climate in Washington which

is caught up in these potential

links between the Trump

administration and the Russians.

This looks to be one of the first

reported business links, even though

an indirect one, between a member of

the Trump administration and a

member of President Putin 's inner

circle.

So what are offshore

investment funds -

and why are they so controversial?

Well our economics editor

Kamal Ahmed now explains.

For centuries Britain has

been a focus of finance.

That is seen by many for the good

of our economy and global trade.

We allow companies set up in the UK

and not be taxed here.

Our imperial past is also important.

Across the world are what are

called Crown dependencies

or overseas territories.

Places like Jersey and Guernsey

and the Isle of Man,

which have an arm's length

relationship with us and have

based their economy on low tax

offers to companies and individuals

to hold some of their welfare.

--Wealth there.

Others are more far-flung places

like Gibraltar, as well as Bermuda,

the British Virgin Islands,

the Cayman Islands,

and Turks and Caicos.

Such places insist they

are good for growth.

They allow firms and individuals

avoiding being taxed multiple times

by different countries.

There have been a lot of new rules

on transparency as well.

But, they are criticised

for being too secret.

too weak on regulation

and too open to corruption.

Critics say that the laws have also

failed to keep up with global

companies that can move vast amounts

of money around the world

at the touch of a computer key.

We are not the only ones to lure

companies to our shores.

Other countries involves Singapore,

Switzerland and America which have

low tax systems in many states.

It is also important to note that

tax evasion is illegal but tax

avoidance is using legal structure

to reduce tax levels.

How much can this be worth

to national exchequer

is Treasury?

Globally, anything between £75

billion and £180 billion.

Many now believe that avoidance has

become so controversial that needs

to be a complete change to global

tax laws so that taxes are paid

in the country where the firm

or company is based.

That might mean tax going up

which some disagree with,

but controversy would

probably die down.

With me now is Murray Worthy,

Senior Campaigner on Banks

and Corruption at Global Witness,

which has campaigned for greater

transparency in offshore finance.

How significant do you think they

are?

They are hugely significant

because they given unprecedented

insight into the role the UK tax

havens play in a shadowy offshore

world that allows tax avoidance, tax

evasion, correction,

money-laundering from all around the

world.

We have heard from Appleby,

the main firm whose documents have

come to light, saying it is a hack?

The question is what happens next.

UK tax havens were at the heart of

this, after the pan and -- Panama

papers, they said there would be

reformed. This is a reminder that

the UK Government must take action

to reveal the true owners of these

secretive offshore companies.

Tax

avoidance is not a legal, tax

evasion is, but not tax avoidance --

not illegal. They are not doing

anything wrong, they are doing

things within the law?

As your

earlier presenter was saying, many

people are shocked at the small

amounts of tax that these companies

pay. And a call to change the law

for what is not illegal now will be

illegal in the future. This system

allows broader crimes as well like

money-laundering and corruption,

they have a devastating impact.

Solving that might have a wider

benefit around tax.

The point I am

making is that it is not the fault

of the individuals, they are obeying

the law and pushing it as far as it

can go, it is up to governments to

change the way the way these places

operate?

Absolutely, the solutions

have to come from Government. These

leaks are what is happening about in

UK tax havens, and Theresa May's

Government is ultimately responsible

and must take action. It reveals the

true owners of the company is based

there and tackle this tax havens it

received.

One of the questions is

that if you are going to keep having

data leaks like this, the Panama

papers and now the Paradise Papers,

you wonder if some of these clients

of these offshore funds are going to

lose confidence?

I think we are

starting to see the beginning of the

end for tax havens. If you are at

the point where secrecy within is

not holding up, people are leaking

from inside, and at the same time

there is pressure from people at

home who are seen these revelations

and wanting to know more about what

is happening there and thinking this

needs to end. It is only a matter of

time before these places have to

open up before we see the secrecy

come to an end.

Thank you. Now for

some breaking news coming into it in

the last few minutes. There has been

a shooting in the Baptist Church in

the US state of Texas. It has

resulted in multiple casualties

we're hearing from the media in the

United States. The gunmen is

reportedly killed, the shooting took

place at the first Baptist Church in

Sutherland Springs, south-east of

Antonio. They are saying that the

gunmen walked into the church

shortly before noon local time, a

two -year-old we're hearing among

the wounded. These are initial

reports, that is from the Dallas

morning news website. Unconfirmed

reports that there has been a

shooting at a Baptist church in the

American state of Texas resulting in

multiple casualties. Just to repeat

where that has taken place. We

understand that the first artist

church in Sutherland Springs,

south-east of San Antonio in Texas.

Reports, unconfirmed reports, that

the gunmen walked into the church

and opened fire, a two -year-old

among the wounded according to

reports. Much more on that coming up

on BBC news. Let's also tell you

that we can now bring you

Now let's bring you that special BBC

Panorama programme that reveals

programme that reveals

the contents of some of 13 million

documents, which come mostly

from an offshore law firm called

Appleby and reveal the tax affairs

of rich and powerful

people around the world.

But for now, goodbye.

Tonight on Panorama: The offshore

secrets of the rich and powerful out

in the open.

Did you, sir, have tens of millions

in an offshore trust

that you secretly controlled -

yes or no, sir?

A huge leak of documents reveals

the stories they wanted to

keep hidden.

It is a major political explosion.

There is the senior Trump official

who does business with the

Russians.

Under the current system,

it's easy to get greedy.

Don't go there, man.

Don't go there.

Questions at the heart

of the national game.

Is he the real owner of Everton?

Are you crazy?

Have you seen a psychiatrist?

And we discover that even

the Queen has offshore

secrets.

We expect higher standards

of the Queen than

investing in tax havens overseas.

It's an island paradise, sunshine

It's an island paradise, sunshine

and fun. Welcome to Bermuda. This is

a beautiful island in the Atlantic,

but it's a lot more than just a few

pretty beaches. This place attracts

billions of dollars from all across

the globe from the super rich and

big business. Bermuda is a tax

haven. It offers to the rich and

powerful: 0% tax rate and secrecy.

These places are selling secrecy,

selling facilities for handling

dirty money, and a big part of the

game is hiding it.

But now, that

secrecy has been breached. Appleby

is a legal firm that sells offshore

services. 7 million of their

documents have been leaked. That's

the head office. We have to be very

careful at this stage of the

investigation. Because Appleby don't

know that we have their data.

We have been working on the

documents for the past year. This

March, we were invited to a secret

meeting in Munich.

We don't talk

about what we're doing.

The

documents were leaked to a German

newspaper.

We don't talk to our

friends, our families, our

colleagues.

They are sharing the

documents with the international

Consortium of investigative

journalists will stop in the UK,

that's Panorama and the Guardian. --

consortium of investigative

journalists. .

It will be very

interesting to the public, because

this is information that has never

come out before.

The leak has been

called the Paradise Papers. Secret

contracts, agreements and deals that

we were never supposed to see. Over

the next two nights, Panorama will

show you the hidden stories.

The Paradise Papers contain some of

the biggest names in Britain. Some

at the very heart of the

establishment. Including one who

lives here. Our very own Queen is

investing offshore. The Queen's

investments are handled by the Duchy

of Lancaster. Now, because of the

files, we can see exactly where some

of that money was going. They reveal

millions of pounds of secret

offshore investments. Its £10

million in tax havens - perfectly

legal, and no suggestion that the

Duchy is avoiding tax. But should

the monarch's tax really be

offshore, a place of lax regulation,

low tax and secrecy?

If the money

has been invested in a tax haven, I

would have thought it would be

extremely embarrassing for the Queen

and the Royal family. We expect

higher standards of the Queen in

terms of where the investments are

located.

Half of the 10 million was

invested in the Cayman Islands come

at a tax haven where the Queen is

head of state. Now, we can't see

where all the money went, but the

documents show the Duchy invested in

medical and technology companies,

and two British high street

retailers. One was the off-licence

chain Thresher, which went bust,

owing millions to the taxman.

Another was the rent to buy retailer

Brighthouse. It was fined £50

million for irresponsible lending.

She's in. Now, the Duchy didn't give

us a figure for Thresher, but said

its investment in Brighthouse

currently adds up to... It said:

It's so obvious that if you're

looking after the money of the

monarchy, you've got to be cleaner

than clean, and you must never go

near the dirty world of

money-laundering, tax avoidance, tax

evasion.

There's a lot more about

the British establishment in the

Paradise Papers.

I, Michael, Lord

Ashcroft, do swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful...

Lord

Ashcroft has given more than £10

million to the Conservative Party.

And the billionaire was also the

party's treasurer and deputy

chairman.

For the last 20 years,

Lord Ashcroft has been one of the

most significant donors to the

Conservative Party. He's also been

very important organisationally,

hugely significant.

But our

documents reveal the scale of Lord

Ashcroft's tax avoidance, how he

ignored financial rules and

repeatedly misled the public.

Evidence from the papers could leave

him facing a tax bill of tens of

millions. Lord Ashcroft's tax status

became a political scandal in 2010.

Archive: Lord Ashcroft, deputy

chairman of the Conservative Party,

he has confirmed that he doesn't pay

tax in the UK on most of his foreign

earnings. It went on for ten years

while he was sitting in the House of

Lords. Our documents show that for

the first time -- show for the first

time how much cash Lord Ashcroft was

receiving in those years. Look at

the payments - the money kept

coming. They total around $200

million. And Lord Ashcroft didn't

have to pay a penny in tax.

You can

be an offshore financier and live a

meaningless life in some ghastly tax

haven and have nothing to do with

Britain, but what he appears to be

doing is having the best of both

worlds, being the offshore person

not paying British tax and dabbling

mischievously and having great

influence in British politics.

All

those payments came from something

Lord Ashcroft set up as a trust,

with assets of over a quarter of a

billion.

Trusts become a way for

people to put their assets in a

legal fortress and still benefit

from them and control them.

The

trust was run from Appleby's office

here in Bermuda. Lord Ashcroft could

legally avoid tax on payments from

the trust so long as he followed the

rules. And the most important rule

is that independent trustees oversee

the trust. The documents show, the

trustees were worried about how Lord

Ashcroft was behaving. As you go

through the e-mails, you get this

rising sense of frustration that

Lord Ashcroft is not playing by the

rules. This one puts it pretty

simply: The trustees even issued a

warning for Lord Ashcroft. It says,

it's imperative at all times that

the trustees are aware of any and

all transactions to be entered into

prior to transactions occurring.

That looks like Lord Ashcroft

controlling the trust and expecting

the trustees to rubber-stamp his

decisions.

The trustees are worried

and expressing alarm about that.

That's clear. On the evidence I've

seen, it looks like abusive

behaviour and an abuse of structure.

If Lord Ashcroft was making

decisions, he could face a huge tax

bill. -- abusive structure.

He is

putting himself on the hook for

penalties in back taxes and what

have you by meddling with the trust

assets without, you know, having the

trustees sign of the way they are

supposed to.

I've come to the

Conservative Party conference. We

sent letters to Lord Ashcroft's home

and office, but they were sent back

to us, unread and unopened, as you

can see. He did get an e-mail from

his public relations man. It's an

extraordinary message, in which he

says, Lord Ashcroft has access to

the letter and could read it at any

time but he makes it clear that this

will never happen. Lord Ashcroft

said he wouldn't respond because of

the unfair way Panorama had treated

him in the past. So, I tracked him

down. Lord Ashcroft, hi. I'm Richard

Bilton, I work for Panorama. Can I

have a quick word? I have tried to

send you these letters but you

didn't take them. Did you have tens

of millions in an offshore trust

that you secretly control, Sir? Did

that mean you can avoid millions in

tax through that trust? Why don't

you just talk to me? It would be

great to hear your view. The

trust...

Dear, dear, dear.

You made

some decisions, and the trustees.

Dear, dear, dear.

That is a lot of

dears. I am keen to get your view.

Really keen to get your view. You

can't hold the microphone. Let me

get your view. Do you think if you

did have money in that trust, you

could, sir, face a big tax bill. We

are going for a while, holding hands

- this is what I will hope for. Just

the chance to talk to you. Why don't

you just stop and answer my

questions? It will take one minute,

sir. Did you, sir, have tens of

millions in an offshore trust that

you secretly controlled - yes or no?

Is that yes or no, Sir? And

therefore, did you avoid millions by

having your money in that trust, did

you, sir? Because if you did, you

could face a big tax bill. Where are

we going? This is amazing, we have

been walking for about two minutes.

Why don't you just give me your

view, Sir? We could have been

sponsored, we've done about a mile

and a half. Why don't you just tell

me your view. It would be really

nice to get it. Sir... Sir, just

give me your view. Did you, sir,

secretly control trust in which you

had tens of millions? Therefore

avoiding tax. Did you do that? Did

you do that, Sir? Where are we

going? This is brilliant. I don't

know where we're going. I'm not

going to follow you in there, sir.

I've never quite had a chat quite

like that. We just want to have

worked with Mr Ashcroft, who dear,

dear, dear about, I don't know, 200

times. Lord Ashcroft's lawyers later

said that I had started shouting

something at him, by which time,

Lord Ashcroft had walked away and

heard nothing. Lord Ashcroft did not

have a clue as to what was being

said to him. There's one last Lord

Ashcroft revelation: After the

scandal of 2010, he continued to sit

in the House of Lords. It seemed

he'd finally become an ordinary

taxpayer for good. But this document

about his tax status reveals he

didn't. It says: -- it said that his

true domicile is Belize. Once again,

we had all been misled.

I think it's

very important that people who play

a role in our public life is our

straightforward about their

dealings. I think it's a major

political explosion. It will raise

huge questions about not just the

Conservatives but also the House of

Lords.

So, what about Appleby, the

company that oversaw Lord Ashcroft's

trust? They say Appleby does not

specialise in tax and would play no

role in advising on the tax

advantages or disadvantages of any

particular structure. These are

confidential and commercially

sensitive documents relating to

Appleby and its clients. It isn't

just the British establishment. The

Paradise Papers also reveal new

details about America's biggest

political scandal.

This president

conspired with the Russian

Government to steal an election.

Siam and it was all fake news. I

will tell you right now, zero. I had

nothing to do with Russia.

We

discovered that a senior member of

Trump's cabinet has been quietly

trading with the Russians.

You know

who that is, right?

He is a

billionaire called Wilbur Ross. They

became close after Donald Trump

bought a casino in Atlantic City.

Donald Trump gave Michael Jackson a

personal tour of his $1.2 billion

extravaganza.

The deal pushed Trump

to the brink of bankruptcy. Wilbur

Ross stepped in to save him.

Wilbur

Ross was a key negotiator in Donald

Trump not having to go through

bankruptcy and be swept into the

dustbin of history. If it were not

the Wilbur Ross, Donald Trump would

not be in the White House. -- if it

were not for Wilbur Ross.

Trump

nominated Wilbur Ross to be his

commerce secretary, but our

documents show a different side to

Mr Ross. The man in charge of US

trade policy had dozens of company

in -- companies in tax havens.

It

turns out Appleby helped create and

manage some 50 companies and

partnerships connected to Mr Ross's

investment firm.

Wilbur Ross said he

cut ties with businesses that could

compromise his new role in the US

Government.

Your service has

resulted in your dad vesting

yourself of literally hundreds of

millions of dollars. Given vesting

-- Divesting.

We don't think it is

correct. We think he has a stake in

a shipping company called Navigator

Holdings. One of its partners is a

Russian company with close links to

the Kremlin. Gennady Kim Genco is a

shareholder, one of Putin's friends.

When you see a company controlled by

oligarchs, as this one is, with such

close connections to the Russian

state, you have to realise you are

doing business not just a private

company but in some sense with the

Government of Russia.

In 2014, Mr

Tim Genco was sanctioned by the US

Government, who said his activities

in the energy sector have been

directly linked to Putin. But Mr

Ross kept his ties with the company.

If I were in the business of

consulting, I would advise any

client to stay well away from Sibur.

You don't want to be associated with

someone who walks right up the

low-lying sanctions. If you know

anything about the Russians it's

that under the current system it's

easy to get dirty. Don't go there,

man. Go there.

Great job. Thank you,

everybody.

Mr Ross says he never

owned a majority of Navigator stairs

or has never met Gennady Kim Genco

or Putin's son-in-law. He points out

that Sibur is not subject to

sanctions and says he has taken

steps to ensure the highest ethical

standards.

When you are in a

position to profit even indirectly,

in this case from a very

well-connected Russian firm, and you

as the investor are in charge of US

trade policy and have a voice on

sanctions, anyone looking at it

might imagine a potential conflict

of interests.

It's Wayne Rooney...

Everton versus Arsenal from a couple

of weeks ago. A thrilling advert for

British football. But what we found

in the Paradise Papers raises

serious questions about our national

game. What if one man and his money

was secretly linked to both of these

clubs? This is Alicia Osman, another

billionaire who is to Vladimir

Putin. He is one of Britain's

richest men and owns one of London's

most expensive houses, and 30% of

Arsenal, one of Britain's most

valuable clubs. -- Alicia Usmanov.

It is a new period of us. We will

win trophies. This is most important

football, winning trophy.

But we

think that some of his money may

have also ended in Everton. Both

sets of fans are desperate for their

team to win. The story centres on

this man and begins a decade ago.

Farhad Moshiri used to work for Mr

Usmanov as an accountant. Now, he's

a tycoon who has just bought

Everton. So, where did his wealth

come from? Well, the story starts

with Mr Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri

buying a joint stake in Arsenal back

in 2007, but the documents suggest

Mr Usmanov paid for the whole stake.

This one shows his campaigning is

providing the funds. Farhad

Moshiri's lawyers eventually

admitted that was true but say he

put his own money into Arsenal

later. The documents go further.

They record a gift from Usmanov to

Farhad Moshiri for the Arsenal deal.

That matters, because nearly a

decade later, Farhad Moshiri sold

his interest in Arsenal to raise

capital to purchase Everton. It

looks like that capital originally

came from Mr Usmanov. So, this

document shows... We showed our

evidence to the former head of the

FA.

Who will then give the money to

Farhad Moshiri, who will in turn

invest in the company. It will be

interesting to see whether that

breaks the Premier League rules. My

instinct is that if the Premier

League knew this, they either have

done would do an investigation. They

would need to be convinced that this

was an above the board transaction.

And it wasn't all Mr Usmanov's

money. Then need to be some

questions asked. I suspect as a

result of this, the Premier League

will want to look at the whole

relationship between the two men and

the two clubs.

At the Everton-

Arsenal game, the great goals keep

coming.

Sanchez going all the way.

Everton are being taught a

footballing lesson here by Arsenal.

But what is going on off the pitch?

Farhad Moshiri's lawyers insist he

is independently wealthy, but he

hadn't answered our questions about

whether his source of wealth was a

gift from Mr Usmanov. Mr Moshiri? Is

Mr Usmanov the owner of Everton? And

from the BBC.

Are you crazy? Have

you seen a psychiatrist?

The money

came from Mr Usmanov, it was a gift

initially.

Where did you get this

idea?

Is it true or not?

It's

untrue.

It's untrue?

It's not a

gift.

Say Mr Usmanov gifted you the

money which you invested in Arsenal,

then soldier shares in Arsenal.

The

gift makes it yours. You are asking

if he loaned 100 million to you?

He

never loaned me anything. It is you.

If it is a loan, you owe the money

back, if it is a gift, it was yours.

Which is a?

Neither, because I pay

for it. If it is a gift, it is a

gift. If I give you a fiver, whose

five is it? If I give my friend a

fiver, it is, right?

If the Premier

League were able to see the money

that went through?

They have all

that. They have every piece of

information.

Thank you, sir. His

club, Everton, say details of Farhad

Moshiri's perches were approved by

the Premier League. But we don't

think they've seen our documents

about where the money came from in

the first place. Mr Moshiri lawyers

later strongly denied he'd received

a gift from Mr Usmanov, who also

denies giving it. Farhad Moshiri

says that all the documents that

mention a gift IRA mistake. But this

document describes how Mr Usmanov

will gift to him. And these public

documents seem to show it happening.

54 million Cypriot pounds, that's

£63 million Sterling, went from Mr

Usmanov to Farhad Moshiri's company

in March 2000 and eight. Mr Moshiri

said it had nothing to do with the

Arsenal deal and was part of an

employee incentive scheme, a loan he

had later paid back. There's more in

the papers that suggests Mr Usmanov

could be involved with Everton. This

is the Isle of Man, home to the

financial company that administered

the Everton deal, Bridgwaters. One

of their responsibilities is to

carry out checks, due diligence, on

clients and their companies. But one

document from 2011 says Bridgwaters

is actually owned by Mr Farhad -- by

Mr Usmanov. Here is a letter, and it

says that the client, Mr Usmanov,

has bought a trust company in the

Isle of Man called Bridgwaters.

If

this is true, if Usmanov actually

owns the company, then it's an

outrageous conflict of interest.

It's like owning the police that is

supposed to police you.

Both

Bridgwaters and Mr Usmanov strongly

deny its secretly controlled by the

billionaire. Mr Usmanov's lawyers

say he has no say, control or

influence in the running of Everton

Football Club. Our client does not

and never has owned or controlled

Everton. But the more we looked for

connections between Mr Usmanov and

Everton, the more we found. The

company that owns Everton Football

Club, Blue Heaven Holdings,, was set

up by Bridgwaters and its registered

agent, Bridgwater 2. And one of its

directors is an employee of... You

guessed it, Bridgwaters. And the

other director? Well, he works for

Mr Usmanov. Tomorrow night: More

revelations from the Paradise

Papers. The island that changed the

law to help tax dodgers. What would

you say to our viewers who pay their

tax? The millionaires who can live

the high life because they don't pay

tax. Why don't you just tell us your

side of the story? So, why did you

do that? Were you dodging tax? Hey!

And TV stars on the tax fiddle. Can

you tell me about your tax dodgers?

What's that about?