The leak of documents about offshore companies has put Boris Johnson’s ruling party in Britain facing awkward questions about donations made by one of the largest sponsors, the wife of a former high-ranking Russian official, reports the BBC.
Lyubov Chornukhina has donated almost £ 1.9 million to the Conservative Party since 2012. Documents of the so-called “Pandora Papers” show that behind her personal wealth is her husband Vladimir, who has financial ties with people close to the Kremlin.
Chornukhina’s lawyers claim that she is a British citizen and can dispose of her money at her own discretion.
Donations “opened” many government doors for 48-year-old Chornukhin. Thanks to her generosity, she was given the right to play tennis with Boris Johnson and dine with Theresa May when she was prime minister. However, so far little was known about the origin of Chornukhina’s donations.
Pandora Peppers documents link the pair to three trusts, a network of 32 companies and assets worth more than £ 100 million.
They point out that the source of Chornukhina’s wealth is her 52-year-old husband: one of the e-mails states that she is “financially supported by her husband”, and in another she is presented as a “housewife”.
Among the documents – a certificate of a loan of 4 million pounds, which the offshore company of Vladimir Chornukhin issued to the British company of his wife. The information was gathered by the BBC’s Panorama program in conjunction with the Guardian after studying Pandora Peppers, which was accessed by 650 journalists from around the world through the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ). The leak of almost 12 million files turned out to be one of the largest in the modern history of offshore.
When asked to comment on the facts about the sponsors revealed by “Pandora Peppers”, Boris Johnson replied that all donations are properly verified in accordance with the rules established when he was in opposition.
But human rights activists from Transparency International call such checks a formality and say the rules can be easily circumvented by turning a blind eye to them.