The murder suspect

Shaher Abdulhak Besher was known as Yemen’s “sugar king” because of his Coca-Cola distribution business and friendship with the country’s former president. He purchased a Dassault Falcon jet for $30m in May 2007, using a company incorporated by Appleby – the law firm at the centre of Paradise Papers leaks – in Bermuda, and it was entered in the Bermuda aviation register.

The following year, on 14 March 2008, Besher’s son Farouk Abdulhak fled London hours after his 23-year-old Norwegian friend Martine Vik Magnussen was found dead. Investigators believe he boarded a scheduled flight to Cairo and used his father’s jet to fly from there to Yemen. He was later placed on Scotland Yard’s most wanted list.



Farouk Abdulhak and Martine Vik Magnussen. Photograph: Rex Features

The jet he is alleged to have used was the one on Appleby’s books. Four months after the murder, the firm agreed to change the jet’s name by moving it from Bermuda to the Isle of Man register.

By then the case had made headlines around the world, but the firm proceeded with the request and the Manx aviation authority accepted the registration. The Falcon, previously labelled VP-BAK, was now circulating as M-STCO.

In 2012, according to the Manx registry, Besher’s plane was transferred to the US. In its place, Appleby helped the billionaire with a new jet that, unlike the previous plane, would be imported into Europe.

The firm’s compliance team were well aware of the scandal. Instead of severing the relationship, Appleby decided to continue. The plane was now held in the name of Besher’s beverages company, rather than by him personally. An officer noted: “Following the change of client SAB [Besher] will no longer be treated as our client … we are therefore comfortable with the risk.”

Besher’s son remains in hiding in Yemen. Magnusson’s father is still campaigning for his extradition. Besher declined to comment.

The oligarchs

Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Photograph: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

The billionaire brothers Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, childhood friends of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, used Appleby and the auditors Ernst & Young to help set up structures for three jets.

When the US placed the brothers on a sanctions list in March 2014 following the annexation of Crimea, Appleby partners debated whether to retain them as clients. Legally, they were not obliged to cut ties because the sanctions did not apply in Europe.

RBS on the Isle of Man, which banked for them, had already frozen their accounts and was “keen for the funds to be moved”, a compliance manager at Appleby noted. But he then recommended: “Business as usual but continue to monitor carefully.”

His boss, the compliance director, referred the decision to the firm’s partners, saying: “The risks involved in dealing at all with sanctioned persons … are great.” The partners, it seems, opted for business as usual.

On 30 July 2014, Arkady Rotenberg – but not Boris – was placed on the EU blacklist. Rather than resigning, Appleby sat tight, allowing time for the planes to be sold.

A later email suggests why. Manx customs could demand the VAT cash back, and hold Appleby liable for it. The VAT reclaimed on all three Rotenberg aircraft is thought to have totalled £13m.

Eventually, all three aircraft were sold, and Appleby wound down the holding structures. The Rotenbergs did not respond to a request for comment.



The governor of Nigeria’s central bank

Godwin Emefiele was a career banker before his appointment as governor of Nigeria’s central bank in June 2014. He was on Appleby’s list of politically exposed persons (PEPs) among its clients.

His lawyer has confirmed that until July this year he remained the co-owner of an offshore company with a foreign bank account. The company was part of an Isle of Man aviation scheme. Emefiele says this was because of an “administrative oversight of the company”, which was not his fault and was outside his control.

Godwin Emefiele. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Any continued interest in the 49% of the shares of Oviation Asset Management Ltd, which was registered in Bermuda and held an account with UBS in London, would be a breach of the Nigerian code of conduct for public officials.

The code states officials “shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria”. Oviation was part of a structure that imported two jets via the Isle of Man. The latest purchase, a $50m Gulfstream G550, arrived in November 2015. It replaced a $33m Gulfstream G450, imported in 2013.

Oviation’s co-owner, with 51% of the shares, was Jim Ovia, the founder of Nigeria’s Zenith bank. Emefiele was Zenith’s chief executive until he took up his post as governor and the jet leasing companies were set up while he worked for Ovia.

In his role as governor, Emefiele is responsible for regulating and licensing Nigeria’s banks, including Zenith. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, he was required to cut all financial ties to his former boss.

Emefiele says he did this in May 2014 and gave instructions for his shares to be handed back to the bank. He says he had no further involvement with the jet leasing scheme and no role in operating its bank accounts.

At no time, according to his lawyer, did Emefiele have a “personal bank account” offshore or “personal financial benefit” from his shares in any of the companies involved.

Through his lawyers Ovia said no funds of Zenith bank were used to acquire the aircraft. They said Oviation would not have reclaimed any VAT without advice from accountants – and if that advice changed, any VAT reclaimed would be repaid.

Appleby have declined to comment on individual clients.

