THE Mayor of Brazil’s biggest city hid millions of dollars of from corrupt kickbacks in Jersey accounts in the 1990s, the Royal Court has ruled.

In a 54-page judgment the court has found that two British Virgin Island companies – Durant and Kildare – had laundered money on behalf of former Sao Paulo mayor Paulo Maluf in Deutsche Bank accounts, and has ordered them to pay back US$ 10.5 million.

They may also have to pay interest on the money, which could mount up to many millions more.

The verdict, delivered in court on Friday, is another knock to the reputation of Jersey’s finance industry less than 12 months after the revelations about Jimmy Carr and others, and hot on the heels of the stories about HSBC accounts in Jersey.