ICIJ which has done extensive research and unearthed 2.5 Millions Files on secret offshore dealings of Businessmen, politicians and others throughout the world, has divulged that Vijay Mallya, Liquor Baron, IPL Team Owner, who did not pay his Airways Pilots for want of money(!),Essar Group,Oswal, Satyam Computers, Visaka Group,Mama Mappillai of MRF, and Mumbai-based jewelers, Rashmi Kirtilal Mehta and his son Bhavin Mehta.
As expected, all of them have refuted.
The one to watch is Vivekanand Gaddam, a member of the ruling Congress Party.
Gaddam is also vice-chairman of Visaka Industries, which produces about one-quarter of India‘s asbestos needs.
Hardly a known public face, he might be fronting Congress top guns.
Story:
Two members of India’s Parliament, the world’s largest producer of cut roses and other major business owners are among hundreds from the subcontinent linked to offshore companies revealed in files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
After The Indian Express published the revelations of dealings in countries commonly used as tax havens, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced an investigation. “We have taken note of the names,” he said at a press conference, “and inquiries have been put in motion.”
The disclosure also shines new light on characters caught up in two local scandals that have been likened to Watergate and Enron.
The list of offshore owners includes Ravikant Ruia, who in December 2011 was accused of criminal conspiracy by India’s principal anti-corruption enforcement agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The accusation relates to a scam that involved politicians and government officials illegally undercharging telephone companies by billions of dollars for cell phone frequencies.
Time magazine listed the scam at number two on its 2011 “Top 10 Abuses of Power” list, just behind the Watergate scandal that brought down U.S. president Richard Nixon.
Ruia, whose firm is disputing the charges made against him and others, is a member of India’s fourth richest family. He is vice-chair of Essar Group, a multinational conglomerate that has interests in steel, oil and gas, and power generation, among other things.
The documents obtained by ICIJ show he has three firms in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). His daughter, Smiti, is a shareholder in two of them. One of Ruia’s flagship companies, Essar Power, has further BVI entities that are named in the ICIJ documents.
http://www.icij.org/offshore/india-says-it-will-investigate-offshore-leaks-revelations
Related articles
http://ramanisblog.in/2013/04/30/secret-files-expose-offshore-funds-icij-story/
- The Satyam Saga (fincirc.wordpress.com)
- http://ramanisblog.in/2013/07/07/updated-list-indians-holding-swiss-accounts/
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