A massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents has exposed the secret offshore dealings of world leaders, businessmen, sports person and celebrities including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, DLF owner KP Singh etc, according to reports published in the Indian Express.
"Amitabh Bachchan was appointed director in at least four offshore shipping companies set up in 1993. Similarly, Aishwarya Rai and her family members were registered in 2005 as directors of Amic Partners Limited. Her status was later changed to share holder before the company was dissolved in 2008. DLF promoters KP Singh acquired a company registered in British Virgin Islands in 2010. His family's three offshore entities hold almost USD 10 million," the English daily reads.
Experts claimed that as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, Indian citizen are not allowed to start an overseas entity before 2003.
However, in 2004, for the first time RBI has allowed individuals to remit funds up to USD 25,000 a year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). But it never allowed Indian citizen to set up companies abroad.
The documents were leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca and connect to 140 politicians in more than 50 countries.
More than 500 Indians figure on the firm's list of offshore companies, foundations and trusts. There are also 234 Indian passports (handed over by clients as part of the incorporation process).
Two politicians including Shishir Bajoria from Kolkata and former chief of the Delhi unit of Loksatta Party Anurag Kejriwal also figured in the list.
Fugitive Iqbal Mirchi's name is also there in the list.
More than 100 media groups were involved in the investigation and it is described as one of the largest such probes in history.
The Pakistan PM's family floated 4 offshore companies to 'park money' in Panama. Names of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is also came out during the probe, data claims.
The vast stash of records was obtained from an anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with media worldwide by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
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