the obscure affairs of King Abdullah II of Jordan

M.Zack

3 years ago

Posted today at 7:23 p.m.

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Investigation“Swiss Secrets” | The Hashemite sovereign has invested at least 200 million euros with Credit Suisse. His fortune remains unrelated to the inheritance received from his father and contrasts with the impoverishment of Jordanian society.

King Abdullah II of Jordan likes discreet investments. In the fall of 2021, the “Pandora Papers” scandal, a gigantic leak of documents from firms specializing in the creation of offshore companies, revealed that the monarch owned fourteen luxury residences, scattered between London, Washington and Malibu, in California. Properties worth 106 million dollars (93 million euros), hidden behind a web of shell companies.

But this real estate empire is only part of the hidden fortune of the Jordanian ruler, 60 years old and in power since 1999. The “Swiss Secrets” investigation, coordinated by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and to which The world and 47 other media from around the world participated, shows that, during the last decade, King Abdullah II has sheltered at least 200 million euros at Credit Suisse, a prestigious Swiss financial institution struck for years by repeated scandals.

“Switzerland Secrets” is a collaborative investigation based on the leaking of information from more than 18,000 bank accounts administered by Credit Suisse from the 1940s until the end of the 2010s. This data was transmitted by an anonymous source, a little over a year ago, to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with forty-seven international media, including The world and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project or OCCRP investigative consortium.

These data were combed through by 152 journalists from thirty-nine countries. They also interviewed former bank officials, as well as regulators and anti-corruption magistrates, and analyzed multiple court files and financial statements. The person behind this leak wished to remain anonymous, but agreed to explain his motivation: to denounce the effects of Swiss banking secrecy on the international community. According to this anonymous source, “the pretense of financial privacy protection is just a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders”.

The confidential bank data to which the media partners of the investigation had access show that between 2008 and 2014 the occupant of the Hashemite throne opened at least six accounts administered by this bank. Due to a lack of visibility on possible movements from account to account, it is not possible to comment on the maximum amount that these deposits, added together, have reached.

The most conservative estimate, based on the most richly endowed account, is 230 million Swiss francs (212 million euros). While five of these accounts were closed between 2013 and 2019, the last one is still active. Queen Rania of Jordan, wife of Abdallah II, also had an account with Credit Suisse, whose amount of deposits peaked in 2013 at 39 million Swiss francs (32 million euros), before to be closed in 2016. If we add to these sums the 106 million of the “Pandora Papers”, the total assets amassed by the royal couple during the last decade climbs to at least 337 million euros.

Read the survey: “Pandora Papers”: from King Abdullah II to Tony Blair, dozens of political leaders splashed by scandal

Debts inherited from his father

The King and Queen of Jordan have acknowledged the existence of these accounts at Credit Suisse through the international law firm DLA Piper, responsible for answering questions forwarded by our consortium to the Royal Palace. On the other hand, they claim that some of the balances, as they appear on the data in our possession, ” shave inaccurate and/or exaggerated”, including the amount of Queen Rania’s account.

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