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
February 28,2020

The Karnataka BJP, which faced action on Twitter earlier this month over incendiary tweets, this time has passed the blame of Sangh Parivar sponsored Delhi violence to the victims.

In an insensitive tweet on Friday, it dubbed the protests against the notorious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as "fake" and added that the violence that followed was "the most well-planned assault on the Idea of India," in an apparent attempt to portray the victims as villains.

The handle, notorious for tweets targeting Muslims, blamed the clashes that erupted in Delhi between people demonstrating for and against the CAA on "so called 'Peacefuls'" - a known right-wing slur for Muslims.

Many people on social media called out the tweet for misleading people and covering up the role of Delhi BJP leader Kapil Mishra's provocative speech for triggering the violence or the failure of the Delhi Police, which reports to the former BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in controlling the riots.

Earlier this month, the Karnataka BJP had tweeted a video of Muslim women standing in queue to vote in the Delhi elections, showing their voter ID cards, with the snarky caption: "Keep the documents safe, you will need to show them again during NPR (National Population Register) exercise."

Soon after, the party unit's Twitter handle was blocked by the social media platform for 24 hours after many accused it of encouraging Islamophobia.

NPR has been widely criticised by opposition parties as a precursor to the government's planned NRC or National Register of Citizens which intends to make Indians prove their citizenship with documents that many poor or illiterate do not possess.

Many fear that combined with the already imposed CAA - which promises citizenship to only non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh - the NRC can be used to make millions of Muslims stateless.

The government has denied the allegation and said the CAA only intends to help those who have faced religious persecution. In recent weeks, it has gone back on its rhetoric on the NRC which was announced by Amit Shah in parliament as "it will certainly happen".

The CAA, which was cleared by parliament in December, has triggered deadly protests in the country which left at least 25 dead till Sunday. Since then, at least 42 more people have been killed as large-scale violence erupted in northeast Delhi and hundreds of homes and shops have been burned to the ground.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 25: The COVID-19 count in Karnataka went up by 10 on Wednesday, reaching 51. The 10 new positives included two girls aged seven and nine who contracted the infection from their father.

The 34-year-old man had returned from Amsterdam on March 19 and tested positive as the 17th confirmed case in Karnataka.

Though his family were kept in isolation and under quarantine in their house, the children developed a cold. They were confirmed for COVID-19 infection while their mother is still negative.

The government remained tightlipped over whether or not a 70-year-old woman from Gouribidanuru who was put under house quarantine and died on Wednesday morning, tested positive for COVID-19. Government officials would neither confirm nor deny anything on the results of tests on the woman.

This evening’s bulletin issued by the Karnataka health department continued to indicate the strong correlation of coronavirus infection and foreign travel.

Among the positive cases identified today were

A 63-year-old Bengaluru man and his 59-year-old wife, with a history of travel to Brazil and Argentina.
Two 26-year-old men with a history of travel to Spain and arrived back in Bengaluru via Dubai.
Two others, a 63-year-old woman and her 69-year-old husband, had a history of travel to Athens and London.
A 34-year-old man, a resident of Udupi, who returned from Dubai
A 37-year old woman, a resident of Chitradurga, with a history of travel to Guyana and arrived back in Bengaluru via Delhi
Speaking to the media, medical education minister K Sudhakar said health officials were apprehensive the positives may go up tonight.

Of the corona positive cases detected in Karnataka so far, three have been discharged after quarantine, and 47 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals in a stable condition. There has been one fatality.

As per a recommendation by the high-level health committee, the government has decided to convert the Bowring Hospital into a coronavirus treatment hospital facility along with the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for Chest Diseases and Victoria Hospital. 

“The number of positive cases are growing at an alarming rate and the government needs more treatment facilities. The government is for burning of COVID-19 death cases. However, due to some religious practices, it has been decided they would be buried in 8 ft deep pits,'' Dr Sudhakar said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 25,2020

Benglauru, May 25: Nearly one thousand people in the capital city of Karnataka have lost several crores of rupees to online fraudsters during the two months of covid-19 lockdown.

According to official sources, 962 cases of online frauds have been registered in various police stations across Bengaluru March 23 to May 19. 

On an average, 18 cases were reported every day. However, this number isn’t unusually high compared to normal times, according to police. The highest number of cases was registered in west division (227). 

What baffles the cops is the brazenness with which fraudsters attacked. Many fraudsters duped people in the name of providing jobs, insurance money, Employees’ Provident Fund, renewal of credit/debit cards. 
Many people lost money while procuring groceries, alcohol, masks and hand sanitisers delivered at the doorstep. Olx and Facebook scams thrived during the prolonged lockdown. 

Police said malicious links were shared on mobile phones asking recipients to download the Aarogya Setu app and seeking banking information, all targeted at stealing phone data. 

An officer said many were glued to their phones, and cybercriminals took advantage of this, sometimes pretending to be bank representatives wanting to issue/ renew credit/debit cards.

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