SoftBank’s billionaire Masayoshi Son named in the Pandora File, once bought a jet through a company in “tax paradise” and leased it back… itself.

The documents, dubbed Pandora Papers by the Washington-based International Federation of Investigative Journalists – ICIJ, are internal files leaked from 14 entities, such as trusts and companies. specialized management law for legal entities in tax havens.

Kyodo News is the media partner of the ICIJ project, which became famous after a similar leaked document called the “Panama Papers” in 2016 brought attention to the issue of tax avoidance by people and companies. richest in the world.

According to the documents, Son purchased a business jet around 2014 through a company founded in 2009 in the Cayman Islands, a British territory considered a corporate tax haven.

Ownership of the aircraft was transferred to an American trust company, and Son paid for the use of the aircraft based on the lease.

According to legal and financial experts, someone can reduce their taxable income by paying for the use of that plane even if they own it.

A SoftBank spokesman denied Son handled the fees in such a way, saying that the Cayman Islands company was a subsidiary of a Japanese company headed by Son and that the lease did not constitute tax evasion. .

Names found in the File also include Takeo Hirata, former head of the Secretariat in charge of promoting the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

According to the filing, Hirata established a company in the British Virgin Islands in 2004 during his term as secretary general of the Japan Football Association, and dissolved it in 2008.

“I want to find out what it’s like. I haven’t transferred any money even once,” Hirata told Nikkei Asia. That is, he only listened to the small tips of his partners and then set up a test company.

Hirata resigned in August 2021 from the Cabinet Secretariat promoting the Tokyo Olympics after it was reported that he used a public car to attend free golf lessons.

Another person mentioned is George Hara, a venture technology investor who worked as a special advisor to the Japanese Cabinet Office, which owns a company in the Virgin Islands.

The documents show that Hara’s company, created for investment activities in Japan, had assets of $31 million in 2017, but Hara disputes that information.

According to Kyodo News, the Pandora File named a former executive of a dissolved Japanese chemical company. He once owned a company in the Virgin Islands with assets worth about $12.7 million. The company exists for the purpose of managing a foundation in Liechtenstein. However, the former executive denied his role when speaking to the news agency.

In 2013, discount store chain Don Quijote said founder Takao Yasuda would sell the shares he held to a company in Singapore. But leaked documents show that the Singapore-based company is an asset management company owned by Yasuda himself.

In Singapore, corporate tax and tax on dividend income are lower than in Japan. Currently Takao Yasuda lives in Singapore.