How Britain is responsible for a third of the world's lost taxes

Tax havens cost governments at least $245bn a year in lost revenue – and many of these havens are British. In fact, the country is leading the world in hiding legitimate money and laundering dirty cash. So how did we get here, and how has Britain managed to preside over a third of the world's lost taxes?

Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth

The project has been called the Paradise Papers. It reveals:

• Millions of pounds from the Queen’s private estate has been invested in a Cayman Islands fund – and some of her money went to a retailer accused of exploiting poor families and vulnerable people.
• Extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.
• How Twitter and Facebook received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.
• The tax-avoiding Cayman Islands trust managed by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief moneyman.
• A previously unknown $450m offshore trust that has sheltered the wealth of Lord Ashcroft.
• Aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple.
• How some of the biggest names in the film and TV industries protect their wealth with an array of offshore schemes.
• The billions in tax refunds by the Isle of Man and Malta to the owners of private jets and luxury yachts.
• The secret loan and alliance used by the London-listed multinational Glencorein its efforts to secure lucrative mining rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The complex offshore webs used by two Russian billionaires to buy stakes in Arsenal and Everton football clubs.