Nirupama Rajapaksa, Thiru Nadesan named in Pandora Papers

Former Sri Lanka Minister Nirupama Rajapaksa and her husband - Thiru Nadesan have been mentioned in 'Pandora Papers', one of the biggest leaks of financial documents that has exposed world leaders, politicians and billionaires.

Some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in almost 12 million documents that revealed hidden wealth,tax avoidance and, in some cases, money laundering by some of the world’s rich and powerful.

The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC, which has been working with more than 140 media organisations on the biggest ever global investigation.

Details on Nirupama Rajapaksa mentioned in the 'Pandora Papers'are as follows :

Nirupama Rajapaksa is a cousin of Sri Lanka’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who rose to power during a brutal civil war. She is also a former member of Parliament and served as deputy minister of water supply and drainage from 2010 to 2015.

Her husband, Thirukumar Nadesan, has worked as a consultant and hotel entrepreneur, according to a biography on his company website. In 2016, he was charged with embezzlement in connection with a real estate deal involving another member of the president’s family Basil Rajapaksa, accused of using public funds to build a villa. The case is pending; Nadesan and Basil Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s current finance minister, have denied wrongdoing.

Nirupama Rajapaksa and Nadesan together controlled a shell company they used to buy luxury apartments in London and Sydney, and to make investments, according to leaked files. Nadesan set up other shell companies and trusts in secrecy jurisdictions, and he used them to obtain lucrative consulting contracts from foreign companies doing business with the Sri Lankan government and to buy artwork.

In 2018, one of the companies, Pacific Commodities, transferred 31 paintings and other South Asian art pieces to the Geneva Free port, an ultra-secure warehouse where assets arenot subject to taxes or duties.

In confidential emails to Asia citY Trust, a Singapore-based offshore services provider, a long time adviser of Nadesan’s put his overall wealth, as of 2011, at more than $160 million. ICIJ couldn’t independently verify the figure.

Asia citi Trust managed some of Nadesan’s offshore companies and trusts, with assets valued at about $18 million, according to an ICIJ analysis. The firm listed him as a politically connected individual because of his wife’s political position. Asia citi kept the family as clients even after Nadesan was charged with embezzlement in 2016.

Rajapaksa and Nadesan declined to answer ICIJ’s questions about their trusts and companies.