Programme they will be. The Paradise Papers show how britains off shore empire helps the rich and powerful dodge tax. You have an non transparent system dodge tax. You have an nontransparent system we do not have a non transparent system. Nontransparent system we do not have a non transparent systemlj cant see it. You dont count. How were all losing out because of it. Every time they close a school in your neighbourhood. Every time they have to close a hospital, a lot of that happens because rich individuals and corporations are not paying theirfair share individuals and corporations are not paying their fair share of the costs of society. We expose the british tax havens happy to help people beat the taxman. Will you apologise, if a law was changed here to help tax dodgers . If that has happened as youre stating, yes, i will apologise. Weve found a new tax dodge used by the worlds most Profitable Company. You can see them as this fantastically innovative it company but you can also see them as a fantastically innovative tax dodger. We confront the millionaires hiding their wealth offshore. Were you dodging tax . And the internationally famous comedian who told panorama to bleep off. After we found that actors on his show we re we found that actors on his show were dodging tax. Can you tell me about your taxes, you get paid in mauritius, whats all that about . It was a big summer in bermuda, the worlds most prestigious yachting race, the americas cup came to the islands. One of the sponsors is now at the centre of one of the biggest data leaks at the centre of one of the biggest data lea ks in at the centre of one of the biggest data leaks in history, appleby. When awe rife, one of the worlds most prestigious sporting events, youre greeted with an array of flags of all the sponsors of the right in the middle is appleby. This event is not mass market. This is a high end event. People here are, the sponsored are elite and working companies, in the middle of them is appleby. Appleby is one of the most successful off shore firms in the world. And the americas cup a tt ra cts world. And the americas cup attracts the sort of wealthy clients it works with. New zealand have won, i think. While we are in bermuda, we have to keep our investigations secret. Were here because almost seven million documents have been leaked from appleby. We can now see what they and their clients do. You have to be very careful at this stage of the investigation. Because appleby dont know that we have their data. Applebys documents were obtained by the german newspaper, theyve been shared with the International Consortium of investigative journalists, including panorama and the guardian newspaper. The revelations from the Paradise Papers have already sent shock waves around the world. Weve revealed the queens off shore investments. How a former tory treasurer could face a tax bill of tens of millions after ignoring financial rules. And the questions for the premier league about the billionaire and his links to two of britains biggest clubs. But there is much more in the documents. Tonight, we uncover some of the secrets of britains off shore empire. This is the isle of man, were here to investigate a multimillion pound tax dodge that attracts the rich and famous from around the world am world. The isle of man is a crown dependency, the uk government is ultimately responsible, but this island can provide a special service. This is the place to come if you want to dodge tax on your luxury jet. All these different tax havens in the world, they carve out a niche for themselves. Theres so many things they can specialise in. Being thejurisdiction many things they can specialise in. Being the jurisdiction of choice to register a jet. To register a yacht oi register a jet. To register a yacht orfamily business. Register a jet. To register a yacht or family business. Thats register a jet. To register a yacht orfamily business. Thats how theyre competing. Orfamily business. Thats how they re competing. Its orfamily business. Thats how theyre competing. Its part of what makes off shore so complicated. There are almost a thousand private jets registered here. When you or i buy most goods, we have to pay 20 vat. But here on the isle of man, theyre going out of their way to help the super rich dodge that tax on their luxury planes. Take four times World ChampionLewis Hamilton. In 2013, he made a dream purchase. This is your plane. If i get a plane im going to pimp it out. Paint it red, yeah. Exactly. It was handy for hisjet set red, yeah. Exactly. It was handy for his jet set life style and obviously to visit his then girlfriend, pop star nicole scherzinger. Hes the best in the world, so i trust him. It cost £16 million. That meant a 3. £3. 3 million vat bill. And thats where the isle of man comes in. This is how the tax dodge worked. The jet is how the tax dodge worked. The jet is owned by Lewis Hamiltons company in the caribbean. It leases the jet toa in the caribbean. It leases the jet to a new company, owned by Lewis Hamilton in the isle of man. So thats Lewis Hamilton renting his own jet to himself. Thats Lewis Hamilton renting his ownjet to himself. Then its thats Lewis Hamilton renting his own jet to himself. Then its leased ita own jet to himself. Then its leased it a leasing company, he doesnt own, that provides a crew and maintenance. They then lease it back to mr hamilton, thats him renting his ownjet to mr hamilton, thats him renting his own jet back. Hey presto, a 3. £3. 3 million vat refund. Its the artificiality of the scheme that should raise suspicions. From the moment that you see the artificiality of it, you should ask questions about what is the motivation in this particular case. Questions would be raised on whether this is indeed a proper business for vat purposes, in which case refund should not have been granted. Lewis hamiltons lawyers told us he had a set of professionals in place who run most aspects of his business operations. And they said, isle of man customs gave informed approval to the scheme. But we dont think that his deal complies with eu and uk tax rules. Its because of the personal use. To get his tax dodge, Lewis Hamilton had to fly his jet here to the isle of man just once. He came here in 2012, with his then girlfriend. Our documents show that customs and excise here were happy to come in at 6am to sign off on the vat deal. Lewis hamiltons lawyers told us the structures were not unlawful and do not constitute abusive practice. The vat rules about the business use ofjets are incredibly complicated. But if you use your plane for fun, you have to pay vat. I cant believe i have my own plane still, after all these yea rs. Own plane still, after all these years. Well, look at this post Lewis Hamilton is quite open that hisjet is being used forfun. Now even though its mostly used for business, he shouldnt have got a full refund. If theyre using it for private purposes, the fact that all this money is being refunded is quite shocking. You should not be getting vat back if its private usage and youre getting vat back. We have found 50 schemes like Lewis Hamiltons in the documents. Weve seen millions being handed out in vat refunds to oligarchs and sports stars, who are clearly going to use theirjets for stars, who are clearly going to use their jets for private stars, who are clearly going to use theirjets for private use. How on earth can that possibly be allowed to happen . We only accept cases for the refund of vat on jets if its for 100 business use. We have the refund of vat on jets if its for 10096 business use. We have seen cases where its clearly going to be used privately. I look forward to you providing me with that evidence. Well, heres the evidence. Our documents show isle of man customs knew that jets were documents show isle of man customs knew thatjets were being used for personal use. And customs have since confirmed, as long as it was predominantly business use, they gave refunds any way. Weve discovered that applebys office on the isle of man has imported luxury jets worth 1. £1. 25 billion, so some of the wealthiest people on the planet have avoided a small fortune in tax. In total, the isle of man has handed out more than £790 million in vat refunds to jet leasing companies. As a result of panoramas investigation, its now called in the British Government to review its procedures. Theyre approved on the isle of man. Vat rules and regulations on corporate jets are highly complex. I genuinely feel that you have missed the point. We are concerned about your allegations, so weve said right, whats the best thing to do to show we have nothing to hide, were an honest and transparent jurisdiction lets ask hm treasury will they come in, review, assess i should say, our practice of importation of Business Jets into the say, our practice of importation of businessjets into the eu say, our practice of importation of Business Jets into the eu via the isle of man and lets see what theyve got to say. The British Government declined to be interviewed for this programme. But one of the revelations of the Paradise Papers is the role this country plays in an industry that hides hundreds of billions off shore. Appleby has offices in tax havens around the world. Most have links to britain. The uk has a kind of network of tax havens around the world that are partly british, like the overseas territories, Cayman Islands and so on, and the crown dependencies. You could say this is like a second financial empire, second empire of britain. These places are effectivelyjurisdictions for sale. They will do what it ta kes. The isle of man became a tax haven in the 19805 when farming and tourism declined. It does not seem ethical to my mind and it does not seem ethical to my mind and it does not seem healthy and sustainable in the long rant and it will nibble away at the islands reputation. A third of the islands reputation. A third of the islands reputation. A third of the islands economy is Financial Services. You can the islands economy is Financial Services. You can see the islands economy is Financial Services. You can see that around as there are signs for hsbc and ba rclay5 bank there are signs for hsbc and Barclays Bank down there. Athol street here, you have got appleby, a big legalfirm, a big player. And very close to all this geographically and hand in glove with the offshore finance industry is the government here. This close relationship is what tax havens offer. They can influence the politicians, and very often they will just write the politicians, and very often they willjust write the laws at themselves and presented to these tax havens and say, please, put this in your legislation, which is profoundly dangerous for other countries that are affected by this. And there is an example in the Paradise Papers of how unhealthy this relationship can be. We have found evidence that shows just how far the isle of Man Government has been prepared to go to help tax dodgers. It is all about a law that was aimed at stopping tax evaders. The most serious tax dodgers who break the law. The european savings directive meant if you had your money in a bag anywhere in europe it would be taxed. The european savings directive was intended to put a stop to some forms of cross border tax evasion. In our documents there is a scheme designed to undermine that plan and that would help people evading tax. But for it to work, the isle of mans laws had to be changed. The scheme needed approval by the isle of man regulator. You might think getting approval for something that could help tax evaders would prove difficult, but not on the isle of man. We have got a letter from the lawyers to the regulator, whose job is a letter from the lawyers to the regulator, whosejob is to make sure the rules are followed. Just listen to the language. If you believe it would be helpful for us to the language. If you believe it would be helpfulfor us to provide you with ideas as to how to amend the regulations in order to more readily accord with our clients proposal, please let simon or myself know. It sounds like they are saying if you want help drafting this new law that could assist tax evaders, we will do it for you. The regulator does draft a new law and asks for the opinions of the lawyers. Let me show you this e mail. I would be particularly interested in any comments that you and or simon have in this regard. I have heard about these things happening, i have never seen these things happening, i have never seen at this level of detail the transaction, the handoff that goes on, where the wealth manager or the representative said, we want you to do this with the law, and the public official says right, done, do this with the law, and the public officialsays right, done, here do this with the law, and the public official says right, done, here it is. In switzerland we found the man who drew up the scheme. Now, he agreed to talk to us, but he does not know we have seen his plan. I wa nt to not know we have seen his plan. I want to show you something. This is a very clever scheme to avoid the european savings directive. I think you drew this up. Would you talk us through this . This was many years ago, it must have been about ten yea rs ago, it must have been about ten years ago. This looks like a plan designed to help people if theyd tax, is that right . It is either to evade tax or keep privacy. It is the isle of man changing their own laws so isle of man changing their own laws so this scheme to help tax evaders can work, isnt it . Iwould so this scheme to help tax evaders can work, isnt it . I would agree, yes. That is amazing to me. What should our viewers make of you drawing up schemes to help people break the law . Well, every tax adviser, they stick within the law. This was not illegal. To be crystal clear, the regulator would have been well aware that by changing the law it would encourage schemes that allow people to skip est and evade tax . Yes. We are not talking about some distant country. The isle of man is part of the british isles. This is where that law was changed. Here it is, the new law. It will help tax evaders, it is approved by the isle of man parliament. So what would the chief minister say about the regulator who helped change the law . I do not believe it has happened, but if it has, we will investigate. It happened on this island. Lets look at the evidence so island. Lets look at the evidence so far. If it happened, i would be disappointed. Given the opportunity to look at the evidence, let my team go away, investigate and we will ta ke go away, investigate and we will take action if it is proven. Will you apologise if the law was changed here to help tax avoidance . You apologise if the law was changed here to help tax avoidance . M you apologise if the law was changed here to help tax avoidance . If it is what you are stating, yes, i will apologise on behalf of the isle of Man Government because we are risk bonds will Tax Jurisdiction and we do not condone anything like that. The regulator who got the law changed will not answer our questions, so i went to pay david la ke questions, so i went to pay david lake mbe visit. Hello, i am Richard Bilton from the bbc. Can i ask you a question . Did you change the law to help tax dodgers . That is a comment to the Financial Services authority s. To the Financial Services authority s. You should help us, you changed the law. I have got nothing to say. I told your colleague to contact the Financial Services authority. What you say to our viewers who pay their tax . No comment, the responsibility was transferred to the Financial Services authority, contact them. I have got nothing to say. The last word to our viewers. Contact the fsa. I wonder what they will make of that. Thank you. That is a man who helped to change the law so people could dodge tax. Now i put the questions to him and he does not wa nt to questions to him and he does not want to answer. Not all tax dodgers break the law, but the files show the outrageous way some wealthy brits abuse offshore to hide their riches. We have found a home network of astonishing tax dodgers. They are run bya of astonishing tax dodgers. They are run by a tax lawyer, james otoole. He actually owns this holiday cottage and we are going to stay here and use it as a base as we investigate his tax dodging empire. But he has got more than just a cottage here. Tax dodging can be a lucrative game. Around the back of his cottage all of this over here, this is all mr otooles as well. This is mr otooles would. This is his field. This is mr otooles walled garden. This is mr otooles orchard. This is mr otooles house. His estate manager said we could not look around because mr otoole is not here. He has got another property in the seychelles. That is quite a property in the seychelles. That is quitea grand property in the seychelles. That is quite a grand room. He likes luxury. There have been two aston martins, a range rover, a Harley Davidson and a rolex watch. So, how does mr otoole had all this stuff . Well, it is to do with offshore. James otoole may have spent millions on his house, he may have driven around in the luxury ca rs may have driven around in the luxury cars and warned the elegant, expensive jewellery, but as far as the uk taxman is concerned, he does not own any of it. This is how it works. Mr otoole gives his fortune away, it goes into an offShore Company. He does not have to pay tax any more because it is officially no longer his money. But he is then appointed to advise on how the money should be spent. And he can carry on enjoying their houses, the aston martins, the range rover, the harley. He even gets a personal shopper to pick up birthday cards, bya shopper to pick up birthday cards, by a blender, book a spa, buy shoes, pay for his limousine and suggest mothe