New Delhi: The Paradise Papers are a set of 13.4 million documents on international investment, leaked out to the public on 5 November 2017. The documents originate from the international law firm Appleby, the corporate services vendors Estera and Asiaciti Trust, and company registries in 19 tax jurisdictions. They include the names of 120,000 people and firms.
Among those whose financial affairs are mentioned are Queen Elizabeth II, President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, and U.S. Secretary of Business Wilbur Ross. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the amount of money included is about 10 trillion dollars.
In late Oct 2017, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists contacted the international law firm Appleby with accusations of wrongdoing. Appleby said that some of its data had been stolen in an online strike the year before, and declined ICIJ’s accusations. After the records were released, the company mentioned there was no evidence wrongdoing.
Name of the Indian People
A new set of data taken from an offshore law firm, Appleby, could expose the hidden wealth of individuals, including Indians.
Among the 180 nations represented in the data, India ranks 19th in conditions of the number of names. In all, there are 714 Indians in the tally including names of several and BJP leaders which include Rajasthan’s Ex-chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Vayalar Ravi’s son, Sachin Pilot.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Rajya Sabha MP Ravindra Kishore Sinha, Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily’s son, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan as a shareholder in a Bermuda-based digital media firm and Andhra Pradesh Opposition Leader Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy. Among the companies listed in the papers are Jindal Steel, Apollo Tyres, GMR Group, Emaar MGF Havells, Hindujas, and Videocon.
