Union minister Jayant Sinha termed today as "completely bogus" suggestions in 'Paradise Papers' about wrongly transactions by him, saying they were bona fide.
The Union minister of state for civil aviation's name has surfaced in the leaked list of 'Paradise Papers' of companies having offshore entities globally. The Congress has been demanding his resignation.
"The revelation was completely bogus as it was a completely bona fide and legal transaction and my situation was different. I had also provided full clarification to that extent," Sinha said.
"The reality is that I had invested in a company engaged in solar power business before joining politics," he said, adding that it was totally an investment in a personal capacity.
"I was a venture capitalist earlier. The investment was in a company named Delite Design which had also borrowed money from another firm", he told reporters here.
On the opposition allegation that the Narendra Modi government had failed to bring the black money stashed outside India despite poll promises, Sinha said, "The government had successfully renegotiated tax treaties with a number of nations like Mauritius, Cyprus and others which are known as tax havens."
There was also arrangement within the G-20 group of countries regarding exchange of financial information and data which would help in preventing tax evasion, he said.
"It is good that the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers are getting leaked which are helping the government to pierce the tax havens," he said.
Stamping out black money and corruption was the new normal now, Sinha, son of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, said.
Jayant Sinha had earlier served as minister of state for finance.
The 'Paradise Papers' is an investigation into offshore and banking assets carried out by the Indian Express with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
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