Peter Mandelson discussed plans to buy a £2million apartment in Rio de Janeiro using an ‘offshore company’ with his ‘chief life adviser’ Jeffrey Epstein, new files appear to suggest.
Lord Mandelson outlined plans to use a £1.68million bank loan to buy the property via a company in Panama to the paedophile financier, documents released by the US Department of Justice suggest.
Emails from October 2010 show the disgraced ex-Labour minister had ‘decided to please’ his Brazilian partner and ‘make an investment’ by buying the apartment for R$5.35 million, equivalent to about £2million.
The email, forwarded on to his ‘chief life adviser’ Epstein to get his opinion on the proposal, adds: ‘I also need some advice on tax implications in Brazil and UK.’
About three weeks later Lord Mandelson received approval from HSBC Private Bank for a £1.68million loan for the property, secured against his £2.4million London home, the documents suggest.
In this photo, Peter Mandelson stands in white underwear talking to a woman in a bathing robe
In March 2011 Lord Mandelson again wrote to Epstein to outline the advice of a lawyer who had told him to ‘buy/create an offshore company in Panama’ and also ‘create a Brazilian company which would have the Panamanian company as a partner’ to purchase the flat, according to the files
Emails from October 2010 show the disgraced ex-Labour minister had ‘decided to please’ his Brazilian partner and ‘make an investment’ by buying the apartment for R$5.35 million, equivalent to about £2million
In March 2011 Lord Mandelson again wrote to Epstein to outline the advice of a lawyer who had told him to ‘buy/create an offshore company in Panama’ and also ‘create a Brazilian company which would have the Panamanian company as a partner’ to purchase the flat, according to the files.
A company was incorporated in Brazil for the purpose of holding property on 13 May 2011, with Lord Mandelson and his now husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva listed as directors, according to Tax Policy Associates which first reported the documents.
Lord Mandelson initially said he has no recollection of the proposal and that neither he nor his husband have ever owned property in Brazil. He added that he has no association with any company in Panama and holds no funds offshore.
However further emails have since emerged that raise questions about the claims. In one email the former US ambassador told Epstein that: ‘I am buying Rio only on (huge) bank loan.’
And in another, sent to Epstein in November 2009, Lord Mandelson said: ‘I have to take my limited savings off shore [sic] asap…’
Lord Mandelson did not dispute the veracity of the emails but told the Mail: ‘I didn’t buy any property but I am not commenting.’ There is no suggestion of wrongdoing.