LONDON: The family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is not the only resident of Avenfield House on London’s Park Lane who bought their properties through offshore companies incorporated in tax havens.

According to the UK Land Registry record, the majority of flats in Avenfield House are owned by offshore companies incorporated in tax havens like Panama, the British Virgin Islands and Guernsey.

The Nielsen Enterprises Limited and the Nescoll Limited, two offshore companies linked to the family of Mr Sharif, own four luxury flats in Avenfield House: 16, 16a, 17 and 17a, all situated on one floor and converted into one big house by removing partition walls.

Majority of flats in the building are owned by offshore companies incorporated in tax havens like Panama, British Virgin Islands and Guernsey

The flat 17 was the first to be bought by the Nawaz Sharif family through the Nescoll Limited in June 1993. It was followed by the purchase of flats 16 and 16a which were both bought on July 31, 1995.

The flat 17a was the last to be bought by the Nawaz Sharif family on 23 July 1996.

The Sharif family also owns another property in Avenfield House, flat 12a, but it is not purchased through an offshore company but through the Flagship Investment Limited, a firm registered with Companies House in the United Kingdom with Hasan Nawaz Sharif as one of its directors.

The title deed of this flat shows a purchase price of 365,000 pounds and completion date of Jan 29, 2004.

Of the other Avenfield House properties, flat 20 and 21 are owned by the Hung Yip Development Limited, an offshore company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands while flat 9 and 10 are owned by the Mellen Management Limited, incorporated in Panama.

The basement and mezzanine floors of Avenfield House are owned by the Avenfield S.A., an offshore company incorporated in the Netherlands, while flat 6 is owned by the Mia Management Limited, an offshore company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

Flat 18 of Avenfield House is owned by Abyaar Holdings Limited, an offshore company incorporated in Guernsey.

Avenfield House is not the worst example of property holding through offshore companies as the nearby Edgware Road has around 150 properties bought through companies incorporated in tax havens.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018