Amitabh Bachchan, Manyata Dutt, Vijay Mallya Among 714 Indians Exposed In Paradise Papers Leak!

A year after the Panama Papers created headlines and raised eyebrows, a new set of data financial leaks have come to the fore, showing alleged offshore dealings of the world’s rich and famous. Titled ‘Paradise Papers’, the findings are a cache of 13.4 million documents which have tumbled out in the open.

The documents were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and were investigated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) working in partnership with 96 news organisations.

In India, the Indian Express investigated these records for over 10 months to come up with the India list with over 714 names of people and companies who have stashed money in tax havens through offshore entities.

The two law firms who are in the eye of the expose are Bermuda firm, Appleby and Singapore-based Asiaciti that helped the big-shots shuffle money from and to tax havens to avoid or evade taxes.

As many as 19 tax havens have been listed and show companies & individuals can avoid taxes using artificial entities. You’d be surprised but India ranks 19th in terms of the number of names, out of the 180 countries.

#ParadisePapers – 13.4 million documents, 94 media partners, more than 120 politicians and world leaders. https://t.co/lHHyt9eLTS pic.twitter.com/mecTosLSxD

— ICIJ (@ICIJorg) November 5, 2017

But who are these big-shot Indians who have been accused of money-laundering? 

Out of all the names, the ones that shine out are Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt’s wife Manyata Dutt, Vijay Mallya and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia. 

Politicians like Union minister Jayant Sinha and BJP MP Ravindra Kishore have also been listed. 

Prominent Indian corporates that have been listed are Jindal Steel, Apollo Tyres, GMR Group, Havells, Hindujas, Emaar MGF, Videocon, the Hiranandani Group and DS Construction.

Globally, however, the papers also reveal secret dealings of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief fund-raiser, Queen Elizabeth’s investments and activities of former Pakistan PM Shaukat Aziz, among 120 other politicians.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We will let you know more as we learn.

Follow this space for more.