The first in a series revealing the offshore links of the elite, as obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, names party donors who have given six-figure sums

This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Britt Shaw.

It reads like a Who's Who of Britain's most prominent political donors; the wealthy elite who have donated six-figure sums – and who happen to manage some of their financial affairs offshore. Their names have emerged as part of leaked offshore client lists from the "wealth management" firm Kleinwort Benson, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

All the donations and offshore structures have been perfectly legal, to use a phrase beloved of tax lawyers. But full transparency has been previously lacking, because there is no register of trusts, and has been no automatic disclosure of Channel Islands client details to the authorities. In the interests of transparency, the Guardian and ICIJ are publishing some of our findings in a register over the coming days, detailing the offshore links of political donors, international celebrities, judges, sportsmen, businessmen, and British aristocrats.

Kevin Lomax

Donated £50,000 to Tories

The Ampleforth-educated former head of software company Misys recently sold his "beautifully manicured" Cotswold home, Hawling Manor, asking £10m. It was not owned by him, but by his Jersey family trust. Lomax, also then on the board of Marks & Spencer, was worth an estimated £42m before he stepped down from Misys in 2006 with a further £1m payoff. He and his son, listed trust beneficiary Johnny Lomax, who runs a London gym, both declined to comment.

Philip Harris (Lord Harris of Peckham)

Donated more than £3m to Tories

Carpets tycoon who has backed a chain of academy schools. Set up trusts onshore, with offshore deposits. His "family office" said: "One of the known and perfectly legitimate advantages of such trusts was the mitigation of estate duty … The trustees may or may not hold certain of their cash assets in Kleinwort Benson in the Channel Islands from time to time. That would purely be because they offer better rates of interest."

Hani Farsi

Donated £540,000 to Tories

Saudi son of the former mayor of Jeddah. Since arriving in Mayfair in 1993 is reported to have spent more than £16m on various projects, including purchase of the Bulgari hotel (left) and backing for the film The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Acquired a British passport. He will still be entitled, if he wishes, to hold offshore money tax-free as a "non-domiciled" person who is not really British. His office say: "Mr Farsi did open an account with Kleinwort Benson in the late 1990s before he became a UK citizen, which was subsequently closed due to inactivity."

Sir John and Lady Mae Hall

Donated £123,000 to Tories

North-east property developer and former chairman of Newcastle United. Sold out his interest in the football club in 2007 for £55m. His children and grandchildren are listed as trust beneficiaries, including his daughter Allison Antonopoulos, who has taken over redevelopment of Wynyard Hall near Stockton, the family home. She declined to comment on the family trusts.

Andrew Cook



Donated £953,000 to Tories

Controls family steel firm. Placed shares into Jersey and UK trusts. Owns manor house at Froggatt Edge, Derbyshire, and is registered to vote there. In 2005 he declared his address had changed to Guernsey, and bought a £1.3m plane, an eight-seater Beechcraft. Gave flights to David Cameron and donated to the Tories via his firm. Ran into controversy in 2010 after objecting to state loan for Sheffield Forgemasters, and writing: "I am the largest donor to the Conservative party in Yorkshire." He told us: "I have never resided [in Guernsey] for a sufficient length of time to establish normal tax residency, nor have I sought to. I have always remained principally resident in the UK for tax purposes." Declined to comment on trusts.

Paul Hamlyn

Donated £2m to Labour

The late publisher sold out his Octopus Books firm in 1987 for £530m. He was a key Labour party backer before his death in 2001, and operated Jersey trusts to pass on his wealth to his children and grandchildren. Neither his daughter Jane nor his son Michael, a film producer who was fined earlier this year for carrying cocaine through Stansted airport, wished to comment.

Britt Shaw



Donated £230,000 to Tories

Polo-playing New York lawyer who acts for Russians. Used offshore loans to buy British property including a £5m Chelsea house in the name of an offshore company. Before 2006 he represented the Russian ammonia company Togliattiazot. Shaw says his own triple US, Irish and UK passports entitle him to make British political donations. He will be eligible for "non-dom" tax breaks on his offshore assets. His lawyers say: "It is perfectly proper and lawful for individuals to hold offshore accounts and/or own offshore companies."

Mike Peagram



Donated £218,000 to Tories

Chemicals tycoon who put his shares in a 1985 Jersey trust. He made £44m selling out in 2001 and took up temporary tax-residence in Monaco. He says: "Some years later this trust was then closed and the proceeds distributed dominantly to me. The reason was to shelter capital gains from CGT." He disclosed his trust transfer to the stock market at the time. Loans Cameron his private jet, and owns £20m Palladian mansion in Oxfordshire.

Bill Ainscough



Donated £294,000 to Tories

Merseyside housebuilder who owns Harrock Hall near Wigan. Sold out Wainhomes for £44m in 2001, and took up temporary tax residence offshore. He says: "I had an account with Kleinwort Benson whilst I resided in Jersey from 2001. The account was closed when I returned to the UK in 2009." Started donating on his return.

Patrick Fauchier

Donated £207,500 to Tories

A French former dental surgeon turned financier, he set up a London-based fund of hedge funds in association with BNP-Paribas, which was sold in 2012. His firm is recorded setting up an "employee benefit trust" in Jersey. He has acquired a British passport and a £2m property in London's fashionable Holland Park, but his original French nationality will entitle him to non-dom status. Fauchier did not respond to invitations to comment on his Jersey listing.

Sir Simon Robertson

Donated £420,000 to Tories

Banking grandee, deputy chairman of HSBC, former chairman at Kleinwort Benson itself, and at Rolls-Royce, with fortune estimated at £130m. He and his wife, Virginia, had Channel Islands accounts. He says: "These accounts were set up in the late 1970s, before we went to live in the United States for a number of years. We closed these accounts very many years ago after we came back to live in the UK in 1983. We always declared to the tax authorities what we were obliged to do."

David Peake and Susanna Kleinwort

Donated £42,300 to Tories

Aristocratic former occupants of Sezincote, an 18th-century Mughal-style mansion in Oxfordshire. Descendants of the Kleinwort family who founded the original Kleinwort Benson bank, and recorded as holding family trusts. Their son, Dr Edward Peake, now lives at Sezincote with his family, who will benefit from the trusts. He says: "I do not wish to comment on this."

James Lupton



Donated £105,000 to Tories

Multimillionaire ex-Barings boss, occupant of a £5m Hampshire mansion, who is currently a Tory party treasurer amassing the general election fighting fund. His office say: "James categorically does not and never has had an offshore bank account with Kleinwort, he thinks that the information may relate to a Kleinwort investment he, along with many others, invested in many years ago, and which has now been wound up."

Pete Czernin



Donated £5,000 to Tories

Immensely wealthy de Walden scion and former David Cameron flatmate. Donated modestly towards Cameron's Conservative leadership bid. Czernin and his three sisters appear among the trust beneficiaries of a payout on the death of Baron Howard de Walden in 1999 which saw £156m split between 55 descendants. They control 92 prime acres of central London, including Harley St, Marylebone High St and Cavendish Square, valued at more than £2bn. Czernin, a film producer who now occupies the family seat at Avington Manor, Berkshire, declined to comment.

Donation figures are since 2001

• This article was amended on 16 July 2014, following a complaint from Britt Shaw; to delete a reference to a Dorset property which we wrongly stated he purchased using an offshore company when he bought it in his own name; and to delete a reference to the Russian ammonia oligarch Vladimir Makhlay as Mr Shaw has told us that he has not acted for Vladimir Makhlay personally and has not acted for his company Togliattiazot since 2006.