Massive tax evasion: Amitabh, Aishwarya among 500 Indians with hidden assets

April 4, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 4: The names of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, real estate tycoon KP Singh and late gangster Iqbal Mirchi figured in a list of over 500 Indians who allegedly used a law firm in Panama to set up offshore entities in tax havens across the world, a newspaper reported on Monday.

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The Indian Express said a study of more than 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm, showed that Indians possibly violated tax rules or masked ownership of firms they allegedly set up abroad.

The newspaper claimed that while Aishwarya Rai was a shareholder of a firm in the British Virgin Islands, her father-in-law – superstar Amitabh Bachchan – was the director of four shipping companies in the Bahamas. It said Indiabulls owner Sameer Gahlaut acquired “three top London properties” via “entities” in the Bahamas and Jersey, and DLF promoter KP Singh and his family owned firms in the British Virgin Islands.

The promoters of Apollo Tyres, business tycoon Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani, West Bengal politician Shishir Bajoria and former Loksatta Party leader Anurag Kejriwal were some other Indians named in the newspaper report.

Until 2003, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms did not allow an Indian citizen to set up an overseas entity. In 2004, resident Indians were allowed to remit funds of up to $25,000 a year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) – the limit of which stands at $250,000 a year now.

The media claimed that while RBI let individuals buy shares under LRS, it never permitted them to set up companies abroad. The Mossack Fonseca documents allegedly show companies were set up long before the rules were changed, and the purpose may have been to park foreign exchange in a tax haven.

Individuals named in the newspaper report were yet to comment, and government officials were expected to respond later. The report in the Indian Express formed part of an investigation by an international coalition of media outlets into the offshore financial dealings of the rich and famous, based on a vast trove of documents provided by an anonymous source.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit organisation based in Washington, said the cache of 11.5 million records detailed the offshore holdings of a dozen present and former world leaders, besides businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars. Political figures from Iceland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Argentina were named in the reports.

Hindustan Times wasn't immediately able to verify the allegations made in the articles that were published by over 100 news organisations across the world.

Comments

Sameer Kandak
 - 
Tuesday, 5 Apr 2016

It's better to appoint ABC as brand ambassador of Hidden asset projects

Rikaz
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Its brand ambassador's way of doing business.....he is roll model...people should follow him...if you have excess money go and do your business out side India....avoid taxes.....Amitabh is saying this...literally...

Abufarhan
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Unfortunately Amitbh is a next presidential candidate of Feku's party

Abufarhan
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Unfortunately Amitabh is next presidential candidate of Feku's party.

KhasaiKhaane
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Remembering the days when #MoNa used to say -
\Congress wale Kala dhan lane se darthe hain.. NDA Kala Dhan wapas Layenge..\"
\" 15 Lakh, har ek ke account me...\"
and hearing all this
#Bhakts got an orgasm, - #MoZi MOZi MOzi,,...
LOL...!!"

Swetha
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Hidden Assets ohh god, without any doubt crore,million,billion will be there.

Prem Sagar
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

less shocking more knowing.

Nihal
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Someone had suggested Big B's name for the post of India's next president. And i heard he was also dreaming for the post!

Neeraj Dumb
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Oh. That's y this amithab started doing 'bhaktgiri' these days.

Lobo
 - 
Monday, 4 Apr 2016

Shame on you. And you call yourselves nationalists. ugly creatures. liars.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 27: A software engineer has been arrested for giving a "call" to the people to sneeze in the open and spread coronavirus, police said on Friday.
The person identified as Mujeeb Mohammad had made this call in a Facebook post.
"Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus," he wrote.

"The person who put this post saying people should go out and sneeze and spread the virus has been detained. His name is Mujeeb. He works in a software company," Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said in a statement.

40 migrant labourers working in Mumbai caught while trying to flee to UP in truck, booked
Meanwhile, Infosys tweeted: "We are deeply concerned with an inappropriate post being attributed to an Infosys employee. We strongly reaffirm our commitment to responsible social-sharing.

The company also said, "Our preliminary enquiry, and discussions with our employees suggest that this could be a case of a mistaken identity."
"However, given the seriousness with which we take such matters, we are investigating this further and will also assist with any independent investigation. The company would take appropriate action based on its investigation," it added

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News Network
July 20,2020

Udupi, Jul 20: Five COVID Day Care Centres have been opened here on Monday with combined 870 bed for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients.

The Centres are set up at Karkala (1), Udupi (3) and Kundapura (1). Presently more than 100 patients are being treated in these Centres.

These Centres have been opened in the wake of high incidences of Covid-19 cases in the district. They are set up for asymptomatic patients who do not wish to be treated at home.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Benagluru, Feb 27: The sudden hike in bus fares by the state-run transport corporation has triggered a public outrage and protests by the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in Karnataka.

Terming the hike as anti-people and inflationary, the Congress urged the ruling BJP to withdraw it forthwith and spare the commuters from the additional burden.

"KSRTC and its affiliates should not further burden the people when the cost of living has gone up and its bus service is used by the majority in the absence of trains in many regions of the state," said Ravi Gowda of the Congress.

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday night, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and its two affiliates -- North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKSRTC )and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKSRTC) -- increased bus fares by 12% with effect from Wednesday, drawing the ire of commuters and opposition parties alike.

Condemning the fare hike, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy urged the KSRTC to roll back the revised fares and give relief to the common man reeling under price rise due to CGST, SGST and food inflation.

"The BJP government has deliberately increased the bus fare ahead of the state budget for 2020-21 fiscal on March 2, catching people unawares. Though student passes have been spared from the hike, regular passengers are forced to pay Rs 5-32 more instead of getting better efficiency, management and productivity," Kumaraswamy said in a statement in Bengaluru.

It's an additional burden on us, said Bengaluru resident K. Venkatesh, while adding,

"The 12 percent hike in bus fares by the KSRTC and its north-east and north-west affiliates from Wednesday will hit passengers hard and make commuting costly.”

"The fare hike will negate the state government's efforts to encourage public transport service and force passengers to travel on the train, which is cheaper, faster and safer," asserted Venugopal Gupta, a cloth merchant in the city.

Justifying the hike, KSRTC Managing Director Shivayogi Kalasad told media that the hike was inevitable due to the steady increase in diesel price, dearness allowance in staff salary and overall cost of operations.

"Since the last fare revision came in May 2014, the operational cost has gone up substantially due to Rs 11.27 per litre hike in diesel price, increase in DA to employees and repairing, maintenance and fleet management costs," Kalasad said.

The financial burden due to fuel price hike is Rs 261 crore, DA Rs 341 crore and operational cost Rs 601 crore per annum for KSRTC alone, he said.

"For the benefit of rural passengers, fares have been reduced to Rs 5 from Rs 7 for the first 3 km. There is no increase in fares for the first 12 km and up to first 6 km in express service," Kalasad added.

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