Jordanian King's Office Confirms Information Shared in Pandora Papers

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Jordanian King Abdullah II owns real estate in the United States and the United Kingdom, and information shared in the so-called Pandora Papers is not a secret, the king's press office said on Monday.

"The king owns a number of apartments and houses in the US and Great Britain, and this is not new information and not a secret. His Majesty uses some of his properties during his official visits and receives official guests there", the office said in a statement.

According to the press office, the information in the Pandora Papers was not interpreted correctly.

At the same time, Jordan's royal court stated that the reports "included inaccuracies and distorted and exaggerated the facts", noting that publishing the addresses of King Abdullah's properties was "a flagrant security breach and a threat to His Majesty's and his family's safety". The court also stressed that the real estate mentioned in the dossier is not linked to public funds or assistance.

The journalistic investigation, Pandora Papers, has revealed that Abdullah II owns offshore property in the UK and the US worth over $100 million, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported on Sunday.

In this file handout picture released by the Jordanian news agency Petra on January 12, 2012, shows Jordan's King Abdullah (2nd R), Queen Noor, widow of late King Hussein (R), and Queen Rania (L) posing for a picture with Prince Hamzah, half-brother of Jordan's King Abdullah and his new wife Princess Basma Otoum during their Muslim wedding ceremony at the Royal Palace in Amman

© AFP 2023 / YOUSEF ALLAN

The international investigation, which involved more than 650 journalists from 117 countries, published leaked files that mentioned properties owned by 35 incumbent and former national leaders and hundreds of high-ranked officials, businessmen, and celebrities.

The list includes Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babis, President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, and many others.