The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Monday declared that it will investigate the Indian firms that were named in the Paradise Papers for alleged diversion of funds and lapses, PTI reported.
As many as 714 Indians were named in documents leaked from two financial companies–Bermuda-based Appleby and Singapore-based Asiaciti– which help rich and influential people to channel their money to tax havens located in various parts of the world.
Indian Express, in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on the midnight of November 5 unveiled what they termed "the biggest leak of financial data."
SEBI and other agencies are already investigating some entities linked to businessman Vijay Mallya also named in Paradise Papers–the capital market regulator said it will check the leaked documents for any fresh disclosures, PTI quoted senior officials as saying.
SEBI said it will first ask the companies listed in the papers to provide details about offshore entities and then match it with the firms' filings to check for irregularities.
Firms included in the Sun-TV-Aircel-Maxis case, Essar-Loop 2G case, SNC-Lavalin case in which Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been named, the Rajasthan ambulance scam whose probe was recently handed over to the CBI, the case of Ziquista Healthcare in which former Congress minister Sachin Pilot and P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram were early honorary/independent directors, are mentioned in the Paradise papers.
Even prominent Indian corporate likes GMR Group, Jindal Steel, Apollo Tyres, Havells, Hindujas, Emaar MGF, Videocon, Hiranandani Group are also listed in the papers.
Besides corporates, the data reveals details of individuals like Amitabh Bachchan who allegedly acquired shares in a Bermuda company before the Liberalised Remittance Scheme was introduced in 2004.
Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha is also named in the records because of his past association with the Omidyar Network. Another BJP Rajya Sabha member and founder of Security and Intelligence Services (SIS) RK Sinha is also in the Malta list.
