Thai authorities have revoked his passport and issued an arrest warrant, but say they have no idea his whereabouts.
The investigation into Vorayuth’s whereabouts led to the Panama Papers, a group of 11 million secret financial documents that illustrate how the world’s richest families hide their money, including among the Yoovidhya family’s financial arrangements.
A German newspaper was the primary to listen to in regards to the Panama Papers leak Sudeutsche Zeitung and shared it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which began publishing joint reports with news organizations in 2016, analyzing wealthy and powerful people in greater than 70 countries.
Since then, political leaders have been ousted, nearly 400 corporations are valued at $135 billion, and governments are cracking down on offshore tax havens. The founders of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which owned the leaked documents, were charged with money laundering earlier this yr.
Anonymous money transfers? They are quite common in illegal programs, but also they are common in legal programs
The Yoovidhya family’s network of offshore corporations – founded by Mossack Fonseca – was so complex that until now the family name and the Red Bull brand had not been disclosed. But the Panama Papers show that for greater than twenty years, the family used the services of at the very least half a dozen anonymous tax haven corporations.
The Yoovidhys, who share shares in Red Bull with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz, didn’t reply to requests for comment. Red Bull said in an announcement that Vorayuth’s legal situation is “out of Red Bull’s responsibility” and that the corporate’s financial matters are private.
Vorayuth was last seen in public in April outside his family’s London home.
The five-story brick home is the address that Vorayuth’s father, Chalerm Yoovidhya, gave when establishing Thai Siam winery within the UK in 2002, and which his mother, Daranee Yoovidhya, used when starting a food business there in 2006.
According to the Panama Papers, the named owner of the home and at the very least 4 other multi-million-dollar properties in London shouldn’t be Yoovidhya – but a British Virgin Islands-registered company called Karnforth Investments.
Although Yoovidhya and Mateschitz own Red Bull, the major shareholder within the UK energy drinks business is one other British Virgin Islands company called Jerrard Company Ltd.
This is where things get complicated. Karnforth has just one shareholder: Jerrard. Jerrard, alternatively, is owned by a 3rd offshore company that controls a fourth, JK Fly. Who owns JK Fly? Karnforth.
Yoovidhyas’ overseas corporations work with deputy brokers, secretaries, directors and officers – people who find themselves legally paid small amounts of cash to sign forms and attend director meetings, reasonably than the actual owners, whose names remain confidential.
The documents show that cash has been flowing between various entities for years.
For example, in 2005, Jerrard loaned Karnforth $6.5 million to buy two properties in London. In 2012, Jerrard canceled the mortgages, giving ownership to Karnforth. Since 2010, JK Fly has owed roughly $14 million to Karnforth, its sole shareholder, in the shape of an interest-free loan for the acquisition of aircraft.
“Anonymous money transfers? They are quite common in illegal programs, but they are also common in legal programs,” said Jason Sharman, a professor at Australia’s Griffith University who studies financial corruption.
Failure to update such files will result
What matters, Sharman said, is that the agents transferring the cash know who the actual owners are.
And that did not at all times occur.
In 2010 and again in 2013, auditors at Mossack Fonseca’s headquarters raised concerns about Karnforth and Jerrard, noting the dearth of documentary evidence of the true owners.
“Failure to update such files will result in high administrative and statutory penalties,” warned Mossack Fonseca auditors. It was unclear whether full documentation was ever provided.
In a separate case, when Mossack Fonseca’s Panama office asked its agent in Thailand to conduct due diligence on a outstanding Bangkok billionaire, the agent flatly refused.
“It’s a pot. Every rich person here knows someone or is related to someone in politics,” said Steve Wagner of Mossack Fonseca’s Bangkok office when asked to offer certified copies of passports, owners’ names and letters of reference.
Wagner didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Thailand doesn’t meet basic international frameworks to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, said Sumaporn Manason, a legal expert on the Thai Ministry of Finance. And tax avoidance – that’s, keeping money anonymously in foreign accounts – is legal and customary.
As a result, she said, Thailand is losing much-needed revenue that might allow it to construct bridges, highways and schools.
“We call it tax planning,” she said.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: The Red Bull family hid enormous wealth abroad
