Pandora Papers: HealthifyMe's holding company linked to Putin's former aide's fund

Singapore’s HealthifyMe Pte Ltd, the holding company of startup HealthifyMe, is linked to Lang Capital Fund owned by a former aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a mega dump of leaked financial documents has revealed.

Tushar Vashisht, son of former Haryana DGP Shriniwas Vashisht, set up HealthifyMe Wellness Private Limited (HWPL) that runs an AI-based health and fitness platform in India through his Singapore-based firm, said a report in The Indian Express said, citing the so-called Pandora Papers. These leaked documents purportedly reveal offshore transactions of the rich and the powerful.

Records of AsiaCiti Trust, which is a Singapore-based offshore provider, show that the company is linked to Lang Capital Fund (LCF) owned by Kirill Androsov, a former deputy chief of staff to Putin.

The Pandora Papers have unearthed the activities of AsiaCiti Trust and other such offshore providers and their customers.

As of March 31, 2020, Vashisht held 10 shares in the health and fitness startup while 2,43,318 shares were held by HWPL, the report said, citing Registrar of Companies (RoC) documents.

The Pandora Papers investigation by the publication shows that questions were raised about some of LCF transactions, including those involving HealthifyMe.

A “compliance report” of AsiaCiti Trust dated February 27, 2018 flagged as “high risk” at least four transactions made during 2017-18 to their “PEP-related structure”, a  reference to politically exposed person.

AsiaCiti Trust Singapore Pte Ltd is a trustee of LCF, while Atlas Asset Management Pte Ltd is its investment manager. Samoa-based Grand Asset Investment Ltd is the sole owner of LCF, the report added.

Of the flagged transactions connected to HealthifyMe was a payment made “for the subscription of 122,066 Series B2 Compulsorily Convertible and Non-Cumulative Preference Shares in the capital of HealthifyMe Pte Ltd”, the report said.

Pawan Agrawal, Vice-President (Finance) at HWPL, told the Indian Express they are not aware of it.

According to a “legal due diligence list” from November 2017, Vashisht is the promoter director of the holding company but “details of the shareholding and directorship in the holding company has not been disclosed to the board of directors of the Company (HealthifyMe Wellness Products and Services Private Limited) through Form MBP-1” for the financial years 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

“As per section 184 of the Act read with Rule 9 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014, every director is required to disclose his concern or interest, including shareholding, in any company, companies or bodies corporate, firms, other association of individuals, at the first board meeting of every financial year,” it said.

Agrawal noted that the “Board of Directors of HealthifyMe Wellness Private Limited, India are fully aware of this fact”.

“We have been transparent to the tax authorities,” he said to a question if these interests were declared to Indian authorities.

HealthifyMe, after taking cognisance of the media reports, said "false claims" have been made in the articles.

"Certain media reports on Pandora Papers have falsely claimed HealthifyMe Cofounder & CEO Tushar Vashisht owning shell companies or Singapore hold-cos with connections to Politically Exposed Persons. We wish to clarify that these stories are inaccurate and have grossly misrepresented the facts," it said.

The company noted that Tushar Vashisht is a minority shareholder in HealthifyMe Pte Ltd, and has "no shareholding (and has never had any shareholding, directly or indirectly) in Lang Capital Fund, AsiaCiti Trust or Atlas Asset Management or other such companies mentioned in the article".

Outside HealthifyMe Pte Ltd, Vashisht has "no shareholdings in any Singapore Company for that matter", it added.

The statement further said that Lang Capital Fund specifically has a 2 percent investment/shareholding in HealthifyMe Pte Ltd. "It was an investment accepted by the company after following all applicable laws and KYC as a part of its Series B fundraise in 2018."

"HealthifyMe was not aware that Lang Capital Fund has any risk associated from a PEP (Politically Exposed Person) standpoint. The company is still unaware of it and intends to further investigate it," it added.