F1 figures named in new tax avoidance leak

Oct.5 (GMM) Formula 1 figures have been implicated in a huge new leak exposing secret and questionable offshore tax arrangements among some of the world’s wealthiest elites.

Known as the Pandora Papers, it is reportedly the biggest ever leak of offshore financial data, with the Canadian press revealing that Aston Martin team owner and billionaire Lawrence Stroll is implicated.

Also named among the millions of documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and shared with hundreds of journalists and agencies across the world, is 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Canada’s public broadcaster CBC and the Toronto Star newspaper alleged that Stroll, whose son Lance drives for his UK-based F1 team, has a 15 percent shareholding in a British Virgin Islands company called Superwit.

Superwit is reportedly run through a Stroll family trust called Polo Trust, which is registered in yet another tax haven in Liechtenstein.

As for French Canadian Villeneuve, who is now a commentator for Italian television, he reportedly funnelled salaries and sponsorship through offshore tax havens to minimise tax.

Meanwhile, Spanish broadcaster La Sexta and the El Pais newspaper said former Renault boss Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, the ex F1 supremo, are also implicated.