A British Citizen Allegedly Finances Al-Qaeda and Taliban with European Funds

For years, a “highly organized and dangerous” network in northwest England has been under investigation on suspicion of running major tax fraud in the UK.

Among the people investigated was a British man born in Pakistan called Imran Yakub Ahmed, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and who was investigated by British authorities starting in 1998, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London (The Bureau).

A decade later, his name reappeared among the so-called “fraud of the century” in value-added tax (VAT) frauds. According to an investigation conducted by the German investigative organization Corrective with 63 journalists in Europe, the treasury of the member states of the European Union losing 50 billion euros every year as a result of value-added tax fraud.

What is the story, who is involved and where does this money go?

Amran’s name appeared in leaked documents obtained by the International Consortium of investigative Journalists ( ) , and these were shared with ARIJ and a large number of publishers around the world within a project labeled as the Pandora Papers. The leaks mark the biggest cross-border journalistic collaboration project in history and include millions of documents from lawyers’ offices about tax havens. They also uncover assets, secret transactions and the hidden fortunes of the rich, including more than 130 billionaires, more than 30 world leaders, a number of fugitives or convicted people alongside sports stars, judges, tax officials and counterintelligence agencies.