By Sri Lanka’s Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles, has been linked to two offshore British Virgin Islands (BVI) companies that hold properties in London. This discovery was made from leaked documents from the Pandora Papers, a trove of 11.9 million financial records that expose the hidden assets of prominent figures worldwide.
London Property
According to the ICIJ’s analysis, Alles’ first BVI company, Brompton Properties Ltd., owns a flat in an affluent London area purchased in 2006 for approximately $960,000. His second company, Banham Ventures Ltd., has owned another property near Chelsea since 2008. The purchase price for this property is not publicly available.
The funding for these BVI companies is reportedly derived from Alles’ business ventures, as stated in a declaration from the leaked documents. A notary who provided a reference letter for Alles in 2017 described him as a successful and influential businessman, particularly in the establishment of Apogee Group and Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Ltd.
Alles has not responded to ICIJ’s requests for comments.
The Pandora Papers also revealed that Alles is a dual resident of Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom, residing at a London address that was previously used as the registered office of Gateway Educational Services (UK) Ltd. This company, apparently linked to Alles’ Gateway Group, a group of elite private schools founded by his late father, was involved in investments in property for the promotion of nursery education.
The Gateway Group has not responded to ICIJ’s inquiries.
The Pandora Papers connection to Alles first surfaced in Sri Lankan media in early November when his name appeared in the ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks Database. This public database contains information on over 810,000 offshore entities identified in leaked documents obtained by ICIJ since 2012. ICIJ publishes names, shareholders, owners, and other relevant information from these documents but does not release the entire sets of records.
When approached by The Island Daily, Alles dismissed the findings as an attempt to tarnish his reputation.
While owning offshore companies can be legitimate, Sri Lankan authorities have not initiated any investigations into Alles’ holdings.
Alles is one of four politically connected Sri Lankan individuals identified in the Pandora Papers to date.
