Cordotex

"Once the money had reached Socomer, it was transferred to another Switzerland-based company, Cordotex. This company would collect commissions, patent fees, and profits from companies outside Sweden. At the beginning of the seventies, they had reached 10 billion sold packages per year, which required 140,000 tons of paper, plastic, and aluminum. The commissions on the materials for all these packages gave Cordotex a modest 4 million kronor in 1970. When the money arrived, Cordotex acted as the group’s internal bank. The company allocated money to various companies that needed funds for investments or to cover losses. However, most of the money was sent to the Rausing family foundations in the tax haven of Liechtenstein. There were two foundations; one, Hansra, was for the benefit of Hans’s family; the other, Gadsra, was for Gad’s family. But so far, there were no profits to deposit in the foundations, it was merely about commissions being transferred to Cordotex."

"In 1977, he gave up – it was only in India that something resembling the Rausing plan had succeeded, but on a local level. Ruben decided to leave Rome and instead settle in Switzerland. However, the decision was easier to make than to implement in practice. The Swiss authorities considered him too old and would be a burden to the country if he were granted a residence permit. Ruben felt wronged by the Swiss opposition, as he believed they should understand how much money he had. After a tough fight, he managed to obtain his residence permit and moved to Lausanne where Tetra Pak’s and the family’s financial managers worked under the economist Lennart Ohlsson. Although Ruben still longed to return to Sweden, he found it easier to live in Lausanne than in Italy. In Lausanne, he could socialize with the Swedes stationed there and take an active part in managing the family fortune which had grown significantly after they started seriously selling the aseptic Briken. Money, both commissions from Cordotex and profits from the various Tetra companies, literally poured into the foundations."

"Dutch Tetra Pak then transferred the shares to the two Dutch holding companies Hansra BV and Yora BV, which in turn were owned by the two Liechtenstein family foundations Hansra and Yora (formerly Gadsra), which had previously taken over Socomer and Cordotex. The shares went to the Netherlands due to the country’s favorable tax rules for capital transfers from subsidiaries to a Dutch parent company. Thereby, it was no problem to first send money to Hansra or Yora and then onwards to the foundations or needy companies around the world."

"For the arrangement to hold against the Swedish authorities, it was of utmost importance that someone in the family lived abroad and stood as the owner of the companies. The company Tetra Pak could not have any ownership ties to companies such as Socomer and Cordotex. The owner of the companies could also not have any formal ties to Sweden, but had to be registered abroad. Otherwise, the construction would likely have failed for legal reasons."