Emma Watson used an offshore company to purchase a multi-million pound property. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published a searchable database detailing some of the contents of the leaked documents, which is how Watson’s details were found.
Watson denied any suggestion of tax avoidance, saying the account was set up for the sole purpose of “protecting her anonymity and safety”.
A spokesman of Emma Watson said: “Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever, only privacy.”
“UK companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardized in the past owing to such information being publicly available.” Emma Watson’s spokesperson said.
Her account came to light after data collated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was published online for the first time. More than 200,000 offshore account details from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, are now available.
Watson, who is worth £35 million, according to The Sunday Times, appears in two films this year, alongside Tom Hanks in The Circle, and in a new Disney version of Beauty and the Beast.
