the leak has been come out before. the leak has been called the paradise papers. secret contracts, agreements and deals that we we re contracts, agreements and deals that we were never supposed to see. over the next two nights, panorama will show you the hidden stories. the paradise papers contain some of the biggest names in britain. some at the very heart of the establishment. including one who lives here. our very own queen is investing offshore. the queen's investments are handled by the duchy of lancaster. now, because of the

files, we can see exactly where some of that money was going. they reveal millions of pounds of secret offshore investments. its £10 million in tax havens — perfectly legal, and no suggestion that the duchyis legal, and no suggestion that the duchy is avoiding tax. but should the monarch's tax really be offshore, a place of lax regulation, low tax and secrecy? if the money has been invested in a tax haven, i would have thought it would be extremely embarrassing for the queen and the royal family. extremely embarrassing for the queen and the royalfamily. we extremely embarrassing for the queen and the royal family. we expect higher standards of the queen in terms of where the investments are located. half of the 10 million was invested in the cayman islands come ata invested in the cayman islands come at a tax haven where the queen is head of state. now, we can't see where all the money went, but the documents show the duchy invested in

medical and technology companies, and two british high street retailers. one was the off—licence chain thresher, which went bust, owing millions to the taxman. another was the rent to buy retailer brighthouse. it was fined £50 million for irresponsible lending. she's in. now, the duchy didn't give us she's in. now, the duchy didn't give usa she's in. now, the duchy didn't give us a figure for thresher, but said its investment in brighthouse currently adds up to... it said: it's so obvious that if you're

looking after the money of the monarchy, you've got to be cleaner than clean, and you must never go near the dirty world of money—laundering, tax avoidance, tax evasion. there's a lot more about the british establishment in the paradise papers. i, michael, lord ashcroft, do swear by almighty god that i will be faithful... lord ashcroft has given more than £10 million to the conservative party. and the billionaire was also the pa rty‘s and the billionaire was also the party's treasurer and deputy chairman. for the last 20 years, lord ashcroft has been one of the most significant donors to the conservative party. he's also been very important organisationally, hugely significant. but our

documents reveal the scale of lord ashcroft‘s tax avoidance, how he ignored financial rules and repeatedly misled the public. evidence from the papers could leave him facing a tax bill of tens of millions. lord ashcroft‘s tax status became a political scandal in 2010. archive: lord ashcroft, deputy chairman of the conservative party, he has confirmed that he doesn't pay tax in the uk on most of his foreign earnings. it went on for ten years while he was sitting in the house of lords. our documents show that for the first time —— show for the first time how much cash lord ashcroft was receiving in those years. look at the payments — the money kept coming. they total around $200 million. and lord ashcroft didn't

have to pay a penny in tax. you can be an offshore financier and live a meaningless life in some ghastly tax haven and have nothing to do with britain, but what he appears to be doing is having the best of both worlds, being the offshore person not paying british tax and dabbling mischievously and having great influence in british politics. all those payments came from something lord ashcroft set up as a trust, with assets of over a quarter of a billion. trusts become a way for people to put their assets in a legal fortress and still benefit from them and control them. the trust was run from appleby‘s office

here in bermuda. lord ashcroft could legally avoid tax on payments from the trust so long as he followed the rules. and the most important rule is that independent trustees oversee the trust. the documents show, the trustees were worried about how lord ashcroft was behaving. as you go through the e—mails, you get this rising sense of frustration that lord ashcroft is not playing by the rules. this one puts it pretty simply: the trustees even issued a warning for lord ashcroft. it says, it's imperative at all times that the trustees are aware of any and all transactions to be entered into prior to transactions occurring.

that looks like lord ashcroft controlling the trust and expecting the trustees to rubber—stamp his decisions. the trustees are worried and expressing alarm about that. that's clear. on the evidence i've seen, it looks like abusive behaviour and an abuse of structure. if lord ashcroft was making decisions, he could face a huge tax bill. -- decisions, he could face a huge tax bill. —— abusive structure. decisions, he could face a huge tax bill. -- abusive structure. he is putting himself on the hook for penalties in back taxes and what have you by meddling with the trust assets without, you know, having the trustees sign of the way they are supposed to. i've come to the conservative party conference. we sent letters to lord ashcroft‘s home

and office, but they were sent back to us, unread and unopened, as you can see. he did get an e—mailfrom his public relations man. it's an extraordinary message, in which he says, lord ashcroft has access to the letter and could read it at any time but he makes it clear that this will never happen. lord ashcroft said he wouldn't respond because of the unfair way panorama had treated him in the past. so, i tracked the unfair way panorama had treated him in the past. so, itracked him down. lord ashcroft, hi. i'm richard bilton, i work for panorama. can i have a quick word? i have tried to send you these letters but you didn't take them. did you have tens of millions in an offshore trust that you secretly control, sir? did that you secretly control, sir? did that mean you can avoid millions in tax through that trust? why don't you just talk to me? it would be great to hear your view. the trust... dear, dear, dear. you made

some decisions, and the trustees. dear, dear, dear. that is a lot of dears. iam keen dear, dear, dear. that is a lot of dears. i am keen to get your view. really keen to get your view. you can't hold the microphone. let me get your view. do you think if you did have money in that trust, you could, sir, face a big tax bill. we are going for a while, holding hands — this is what i will hope for. just the chance to talk to you. why don't you just stop and answer my questions? it will take one minute, sir. did you, sir, have tens of millions in an offshore trust that you secretly controlled — yes or no? is that yes or no, sir? and therefore, did you avoid millions by having your money in that trust, did you, sir? because if you did, you could face a big tax bill. where are we going? this is amazing, we have been walking for about two minutes. why don't you just give me your

view, sir? we could have been sponsored, we've done about a mile and a half. why don't you just tell me your view. it would be really nice to get it. sir... sir, just give me your view. did you, sir, secretly control trust in which you had tens of millions? therefore avoiding tax. did you do that? did you do that, sir? where are we going? this is brilliant. i don't know where we're going. i'm not going to follow you in there, sir. i've never quite had a chat quite like that. we just want to have worked with mr ashcroft, who dear, dear, dear about, i worked with mr ashcroft, who dear, dear, dearabout, idon't worked with mr ashcroft, who dear, dear, dear about, i don't know, 200 times. lord ashcroft‘s lawyers later said that i had started shouting something at him, by which time, lord ashcroft had walked away and heard nothing. lord ashcroft did not

have a clue as to what was being said to him. there's one last lord ashcroft revelation: after the scandal of 2010, he continued to sit in the house of lords. it seemed he'd finally become an ordinary taxpayer for good. but this document about his tax status reveals he didn't. it says: —— it said that his true domicile is belize. once again, we had all been misled. true domicile is belize. once again, we had all been misledlj true domicile is belize. once again, we had all been misled. i think it's very important that people who play a role in our public life is our straightforward about their dealings. i think it's a major political explosion. it will raise huge questions about notjust the conservatives but also the house of

lords. so, what about appleby, the company that oversaw lord ashcroft‘s trust? they say appleby does not specialise in tax and would play no role in advising on the tax advantages or disadvantages of any particular structure. these are confidential and commercially sensitive documents relating to appleby and its clients. it isn't just the british establishment. the paradise papers also reveal new details about america's biggest political scandal. this president conspired with the russian government to steal an election. siam and it was all fake news. i will tell you right now, zero. i had nothing to do with russia. we

discovered that a senior member of trump's cabinet has been quietly trading with the russians. you know who that is, right? he is a billionaire called wilbur ross. they became close after donald trump bought a casino in atlantic city. donald trump gave michaeljackson a personal tour of his $1.2 billion extravaganza. the deal pushed trump to the brink of bankruptcy. wilbur ross stepped in to save him. wilbur ross stepped in to save him. wilbur ross was a key negotiator in donald trump not having to go through ba n kru ptcy trump not having to go through bankruptcy and be swept into the dustbin of history. if it were not the wilbur ross, donald trump would not be in the white house. —— if it

we re not be in the white house. —— if it were not for wilbur ross. trump nominated wilbur ross to be his commerce secretary, but our documents show a different side to mr ross. the man in charge of us trade policy had dozens of company in —— companies in tax havens. trade policy had dozens of company in -- companies in tax havens. it turns out appleby helped create and manage some 50 companies and partnerships connected to mr ross‘s investment firm. wilbur ross said he cut ties with businesses that could compromise his new role in the us government. your service has resulted in your dad vesting yourself of literally hundreds of millions of dollars. given vesting —— divesting. millions of dollars. given vesting -- divesting. we don't think it is correct. we think he has a stake in

a shipping company called navigator holdings. one of its partners is a russian company with close links to the kremlin. gennady kim genco is a shareholder, one of putin's friends. when you see a company controlled by oligarchs, as this one is, with such close connections to the russian state, you have to realise you are doing business not just state, you have to realise you are doing business notjust a private company but in some sense with the government of russia. in 2014, mr tim genco was sanctioned by the us government, who said his activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to putin. but