#PanamaPapers: New names of Indian clients revealed, includes Sunil Bharti Mittal’s son

New documents in the Panama Papers investigation have revealed new names, including several Indian names, of those who took services of the law firm, Mossack Fonseca, for allegedly parking and moving their money in and out of secret tax havens.

The report comes two years after the publication of the initial investigation report which resulted in a global crackdown against several names revealed. The investigation has been carried out by The Indian Express in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.

According to The Indian Express, Mossack Fonseca’s internal email exchanges revealed names of ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) of some previously registered companies. This was right before the April 2016 investigation was carried out.

One of these is a company registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) by Mossack Fonseca in December 2008, KBM Global Limited. The email exchanges show that the beneficial owner (BO) of the company is Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO of Hike Messenger and son of Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal. In fact his New Delhi’s Amrita Shergill Marg address is mentioned in the email exchanges where the name of the BO has been inserted, the IE report states.

Another name revealed in the investigation is of Indian businessman associated with Asian Paints until April 2017 – Jalaj Ashwin Dani. The documents show new data link between Dani and his wife Vita Dani to a BVI entity named Poinsettia Group Holdings Limited. While Dani is listed as being on the board of 38 Indian companies, his wife is on the board of nine companies.

According to The Indian Express, the Panamanian law firm managed three offshore firms for PVR Cinema’s Bijli family. A pioneer in multiplex cinemas in India, Ajay Bijli, along with wife Selena and son Aamer, beneficially owned an offshore company set up to hold a property in the UK, Express reported.

Read the report here.