Bankrupt Anil Ambani's રોકાણ 1.3 billion investment abroad

Nira Radia had set up illegal companies to numerous clients

Multiple agencies will investigate Pandora Papers: Center

New Delhi: Anil Ambani has filed for bankruptcy in a British court. The papers, on the other hand, claimed that ત 1.3 billion was invested in offshore companies in his name. The investigation revealed that he had investments in several companies.

Anil Ambani, who filed for bankruptcy in Britain over the issue of a Chinese bank, had invested in tax havens such as British Virgin Islands, Cyrus, etc. Anil Ambani's investments were found in at least 18 companies. This setup was configured between 2007 and 2010. That is, Anil Ambani started investing in those companies 13-14 years ago.

The name of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia has once again come under discussion. Nira Radia arranged the setup of many clients. Don't contact me directly, but I will make a direct investment. Saying this, Nira Radia had made many people invest.

Earlier, Nira's involvement in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers was also exposed. She transacted in dozens of offshore companies. Nira was associated with Earthma Associates Ltd., Roxbury Estate Ltd., Ilmesh Holdings Ltd., Kingston International Ltd. etc.

After the names like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Ambani, Jackie Shroff appeared in the Pandora Papers, the Center had in a statement confirmed the probe. A multi-agency team will investigate the scam, finance ministry officials said.

A joint team of officials from agencies like Reserve Bank, ED, Income Tax Department will be constituted and will investigate the incident in depth. The team will be led by the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The finance ministry official also said that strict action would be taken if a scam was found at the end of the probe.

What information is presented in the Pandora Papers?

Pandora Papers explains how celebrities and rich people form a multi-tiered trust structure for estate planning. Taking advantage of tax loopholes, the money is being diverted to those countries but no one is aware of it due to their strict privacy laws.

There are many reasons for establishing a trust but looking at these papers it is clear that the purpose of establishing such a trust is twofold. One, they hide their identities and keep a safe distance from these offshore companies. Therefore, it remains impossible for the tax authorities to reach them.

Two, they use this trust to keep their investments safe. They are placed in the trust to protect cash, shareholding, real estate, artifacts, aircraft and yachts from falling into the hands of creditors and law enforcement agencies.

How was the trust used in Pandora Papers?

There is nothing wrong with trust being used properly. Often the father uses the trust to keep the company in the family. For example, if the promoter father has four children, when he allocates the shares to them, he stipulates that he is the owner of the shares and his dividend income is also his.

Only if these three children refuse to buy the share can the share be sold to an outsider. Thus, ownership of the company remains with the family. But trusts are also used as a tool to protect illegally acquired property, to evade taxes, and to protect property from law enforcement.

Often creditors cannot get their money back into the trust. Money placed in trusts is also often used to carry out criminal activities. Much depends on the intention to establish an offshore trust. The courts tend to co-operate with the tax departments if the tax authorities present evidence that the trust has been established maliciously.

The details of the few mysterious reasons why trusts are formed during the investigation of Pandora Papers are interesting. One, to maintain the distance between assets. The establishment of a Businessperson Offshore Trust is to keep distance from its personal assets to other assets. Settlers have no control over the assets managed by the trust. The trust is thus used to protect its assets against creditors.

For example, a real estate promoter sets up an offshore trust. He manages four offshore companies with little assets. Now if for some reason the promoter's company is taken to the National Company Law Tribunal under the Bankruptcy Act, the creditors cannot even touch the assets transferred to the trust by this promoter.

The story of the Pandora's box

Prometheus stole fire from Zeus, king of the gods, and gave it to humans, according to the legend of Theogony and Works and Days by the Greek poet Hesiod. Zeus created Pandora to punish Prometheus. And gave it as a gift to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Epimethus was married to Pandora. Zeus filled Pandora's jar with all the evil things. Pandora was told never to open the jar but Pandora opened the jar and escaped from it greed, jealousy, poverty, war and death but one thing remained hope. Even today, in the midst of all suffering, man does not give up hope. Thus, these papers have been compared to a Pandora's box containing all the evil things.

How are Pandora Papers different from Panama and Paradise Papers?

The Panama Papers focused on offshore companies founded by individuals. While in Paradise Papers the details of the offshore companies created by the companies were revealed. They were cracked down on after the offshore companies were exposed for money laundering, terrorism financing and tax evasion. How the new situation was dealt with by the business is then revealed in the Pandora Papers. The corporate scandal in Pandora Papers has shown how trusts are used to protect the wealth of business families and the very rich with these offshore companies.