 "Panama, Panama Papers leak")
A mysterious offshore firm was part of a 10-member consortium that unsuccessfully bid for the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.
“The consortium,” according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by 10 members in March 2010, “have formed a company P-Vision Sports Private Limited in which the parties will invest and own shares in the company for the purpose of operating the IPL franchise on successfully winning the bid”.
The group formed a company called P-Vision Sports Pvt Ltd “in which the parties will invest and own shares in the company for the purpose of operating the IPL franchise on successfully winning the bid,” the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the 10 members in March 2010 revealed. It also marked 15% share in the consortium for Obdurate Limited, a firm in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). It was soon shut down after the bidding.
The largest stake of 33% in the consortium was held by the Chordia family of the Pune-based realty major Panchshil Group through Atul Chordia (9%), his wife Varsha Chordia (9%) and the family-run Courtyard Properties Private Limited (15%).
Film stars Karisma and Kareena Kapoor held 4.5% each and Kareena’s husband Saif Ali Khan Pataudi held 9%. Mumbai resident Manoj S Jain had 9%. Venugopal Dhoot’s Videocon held 25% through Videocon Industries Ltd (24.5%) and Videocon International Electronics Ltd (0.5%), the publication reported.
The revelations are a part of Panama Papers leak which disclose Indians having offshore firms in tax havens. The Indian Express also released a fourth list of names, which include a top chartered accountant (CA), a tyre dealer and a boutique owner.
M/s Trimblesh ‘N’ Savas
The company, which trades in specialised tyres, is owned by Delhi-based businessman Viney Krishan Chaudhri. Chaudhri, as per records in Mossack Fonseca (MF), owns all 100 shares in The Mine Ture & Truck Service Group Pvt Ltd. This was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
The company was struck off MF’s records on April 30, 2012.
Chinnamaruthu Shanmuga Sundarapandian
Sundarapandian is a director in two offshore companies in the BVI called Panasia Star Ltd and Wir Fashion Holding Private Ltd. His name was added as shareholder in the two companies in March 2015, papers from Mossack Fonseca reveal.
“I do not have any idea about these companies. It was my younger brother Deenathayala Pandian who added me as he didn’t want to have an outside partner. I was told that it is a Hong Kong-based company. He asked my permission, I agreed, I had given my passport number too for the purpose,” he said.
Uday Pratap Singh
Singh was a shareholder of Steel Engineering Limited. This company was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on July 19, 2007. A person named Umesh Somani held all 1,000 shares of the company since its incorporation, which was transferred to Uday Pratap Singh in 2011.
Eventually, the company was struck off on April 30, 2012.
Sylvia Fay Bhatia & Alok Bhatia
Bhatia owns at least five companies in the British Virgin Islands either herself or with her husband Alok Bhatia. Sylvia is the daughter of Australian mining billionaire Chris Wallin.
Since September 2004, Mossack Fonseca records show, Sylvia has been the director and sole shareholder in Comme Trading Limited which, in turn, is director and sole shareholder in Watami Trading Limited. Both companies were incorporated in the BVI in April 2004.
Johnny Manglani
Manglani has registered many offshore entities in the BVI and Cyprus. Among them, JM Group of Companies was registered in 2007. There are records of at least seven other Cyprus firms of which it is shown as the holding company.
Manglani’s wife Elmira and daughters Anita and Dasha are listed as shareholders of JM Group of Companies Ltd.
Nish Bhutani
Bhutani is the global head of product at Vuclip, a US-based online video-on-demand firm. He held 3.41 per cent shares of $ 0.01 value each in Arts Alliance Media BVI Ltd. The company was started on April 17, 2003 in the BVI.
The bulk of the shareholding in the company — 81.55% or 827,416 shares — is with a company called Cheetah International Investments Ltd, headquartered in Guernsey.
Dinesh Parameswaran Nair
Nair is shown as a director of a company called Geldin Trading Co. It was incorporated in the BVI on August 17, 2007. He reportedly has 25,000 shares in the company along with a Chinese national.
Dilip Thakkar
Chartered Accountant Dilip Jayantilal Thakkar, 79, is a senior partner of Jayantilal Thakkar & Co. and Jayantilal Thakkar Associates in Mumbai. He was a director of Kansu Corporation. This company was registered in the Bahamas.
Kansu had first issued 5,000 bearer shares on December 7, 1992, but was struck off on January 1, 2012.
Sushila, Prerna and Gaurav Chopra
The trio has been shareholders of Jelenta Investments Limited. The company was set up in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on April 9, 2010. Jelenta Investments Limited (BVI), in turn, is the shareholder of Zenith Metallik Alloys Limited. This entity was set up in the BVI on April 11, 2012.
Sushila, Prerna and Gaurav are also directors of Zenith Metallik Alloys Limited, an Indian company incorporated on February 18, 2011.
