Exposé allegedly ties world leaders to secret wealth

A massive leak of financial documents published on Sunday allegedly ties world leaders to secret stores of wealth, from the King of Jordan to associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It's being called the 'Pandora Papers' and was published by several major news organizations.

The dump of almost 12 million records comes five years after the leak known as the 'Panama Papers', which exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways undetectable by law enforcement agencies.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said the new trove of files were linked to dozens of current and former national leaders, and amount to the biggest leak of offshore data in history.

However, the group did not say how the files were obtained, and Reuters could not independently verify the allegations or documents.

Among the claims are that Jordan's King Abdullah, a close ally of the United States, used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the U.S. and UK.

Lawyers representing Abduallah told the consortium he had not 'made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use'.

The Washington Post, which is part of the network, reported on the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman who the paper says was in a secret relationship with President Vladimir Putin.

The Post says that just weeks after she gave birth to a baby girl in 2003, she became the owner of a Monaco apartment through an offshore company.

The Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment.

The documents also allege that the Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis owned an offshore estate worth $22 million on the French Riviera.

The news comes just days before the country's parliamentary elections.

Babis on Sunday denied any wrongdoing while speaking during a television debate.