Monaco royal family rocked by new offshore asset claims

Nice, France:

A former close confidant of Monaco’s royal family has claimed that some of its wealth is being stashed in a tax haven, rocking the wealthy city-state in the latest scandal facing the palace under Prince Albert II.

The accusations were published last week by French newspaper Le Monde, which it said was based on detailed notes kept by palace wealth managers while working for the family, sparking fresh controversy.

For more than two decades, Claude Palmero managed the palace’s assets, first for Rainier III, husband of American actress Grace Kelly, and then for Their son Prince Albert (became ruler of Monaco in 2005).

But the wealth manager, who succeeded his father in 2001, was unexpectedly forced to resign last year and has since sought to sue the monarch over his dismissal.

Le Monde reported that some royal funds had been stored in tax havens in Panama and the British Virgin Islands over the years, according to five notebooks that Palmeiro took with him when he left the palace.

Prince Albert’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, confirmed to AFP that “the offshore company was indeed established in Panama in 1984 during the reign of Rainier III.”

But Albert II asked his money manager “several times” to resolve the issue, “but he failed to do so,” Daros said.

“Since Palmeiro took over, this has all been cleared up.”

Offshore companies were also set up in the British overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands in 2002 (before Prince Albert came to power), Dalos said.

Palmeiro stopped making these payments for years.

He said this meant the companies had been removed from the register and made it difficult for the Crown to claim its due rights.

“In their strictest interests”

But Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, a lawyer representing the asset management company, said: “Palmero never did anything without the knowledge of the people who hired him. “.

“Quite the contrary. It was all done in complete agreement with them and in their strictest interests,” she said.

It’s unclear why the royal family might have funds stored overseas, as Monaco does not impose income or wealth taxes on any of its nationals.

But they may want to prevent the media or anyone else from prying into their finances, people familiar with the matter said.

Monaco, the world’s second smallest country after the Vatican, has been ruled by the Grimaldi dynasty since 1297.

Its lack of tax revenue and sunny climate have attracted the famous and wealthy in recent decades, sparking a real estate boom on some two square kilometers (0.75 square miles) of rocky outcrops.

Property prices in this small country are astronomical.

According to official data, the total value of 88 new apartments for sale in Monaco in 2022 is €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion).

Palmeiro is one of four people close to Albert accused of working on schemes related to property development, published since 2021 on a website called Dossiers du Rocher (“Rock Files”) accusation.

They accuse Patrice Pastor, a real estate tycoon with a large market share, of being behind the site, which he vehemently denies.

Palmeiro, who had sought to limit the priest’s role in the field, believes he persuaded the prince to fire him.

‘Top secret’

Since his dismissal, Palmeiro has tried unsuccessfully to sue the royal family through Monaco’s legal system.

This month he lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, saying he did not receive a fair trial in Monaco.

The ECHR is a court of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe to which Monaco belongs.

Palmeiro also filed a complaint against the royal family in Monaco for “attempted extortion and theft,” said his lawyers Canu-Bernard and Christophe Llorca.

The royal family later formally accused their former wealth manager of “breach of trust” and “stealing documents”.

In its report, Le Monde described Palmeiro as overseeing the allowances of members of the royal family, including the prince’s sisters Caroline and Stephanie and his wife, Charlene, and commenting on their spending.

The small country’s Monaco Morning newspaper accused Palmeiro of broadcasting private matters in public.

But Palmeiro’s lawyers defended him, saying he had told Le Monde newspaper that his notes – handed over to Monaco authorities as part of a separate investigation – were “confidential and should not have been shown”.

The controversy comes after the European Commission warned Monaco last year of shortcomings in its anti-money laundering efforts.

Monaco said on Friday that the new Monaco Financial Security Authority will start work this week to combat money laundering and other types of corruption.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)