The ‘Paradise Papers’ have revealed that Bono used a firm based in a tax-haven to buy a shopping centre in Lithuania.
The U2 singer used Nude Estates, based in Malta, to purchase the Aušra mall in Utena, for £5.1m (€5.8m) just after it opened in 2007.
Foreign investors flock to Malta as they are given a break of paying just 5 per cent tax on profits.
The ‘Paradise Papers’ have revealed that Bono used a firm based in a tax-haven to buy a shopping centre in Lithuania
After it acquired the shopping centre, Nude Estates took over another Lithuanian firm of the same name to hold the property, found just 60miles north of the capital, Vilnius.
The shopping centre’s affairs were later transferred to a firm called Nude Estates 1, in Guernsey.
Bono’s spokeswoman told the Guardian: ‘Bono was a passive, minority investor in Nude Estates Malta Ltd, a company that was legally registered in Malta until it was voluntarily wound up in 2015.
‘Malta is a well-established holding company jurisdiction within the EU.’
In recent years Bono has been slammed for admitting he has done his best to cut his tax bill.
The 57-year-old rockstar even admitted that you would have to be ‘stupid’ in business not to find ways of keeping your cash.
The U2 singer (pictured, this year) used Nude Estates, based in Malta, to purchase the Aušra mall in Utena, for £5.1m (€5.8m) just after it opened in 2007
This has attracted criticism from campaigners who branded Bono ‘hypocritical in light of his anti-poverty posturing’ and accused him of using his campaigning for his own benefit.
Asked about his tax affairs, during an interview in 2015, the father-of-four said: ‘The smart people that we have working for us are trying to just be sensible about the way we’re taxed.
‘And we pay a fortune in tax, just so people know. We pay a fortune in tax and we’re happy to pay a fortune in tax – people should.
‘Because you’re good at philanthropy, I think, and because I’m an activist, people think you should be stupid in business. I don’t run with that.’