Name of many Indians figure in Paradise Papers, Sinha denies link

Delhi, Nov 6: Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, whose name has cropped up in the leaked list of ‘Paradise Papers’ of companies having offshore entities globally, on Monday denied he was involved in any unlawful transactions adding the “transactions were not done for any personal purpose”. In a series of tweets on Monday Mr Sinha said the transactions were ‘legal and bonafide’.“It is crucial to note that these transactions were done for D Light as an Omidyar representative, and not for any personal purpose,” Sinha said in a tweet. Mr Sinha had worked with Omidyar Network as Managing Director in India and Omidyar Network had invested in a US company D Light Design that has a subsidiary in Cayman Islands, a report based on the Paradise Papers investigation contended. All these transactions have been fully disclosed to relevant authorities through all necessary filings as required, Sinha added. The transactions were undertaken on behalf of highly reputed world-leading organisations in my fiduciary role as partner at Omidyar Network and its designated representative on the D.Light Board, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation said. He said after joining the Union Council of Ministers, he immediately resigned from the D Light Board and severed his involvement with the company. Apart from Mr Sinha, Rajya Sabha MP Ravindra Kishore Sinha, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and Andhra Pradesh Opposition Leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy are among the 714 people from India listed in the Paradise Papers – that refers to a trove of financial data leaked from two firms. Among the companies listed in the papers are Apollo Tyres, Emaar MGF, GMR Group, Havells, Hindujas, Jindal Steel and Videocon. The Indian Express, involved in the investigation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Sunday published the story in which 13.4 million leaked documents reveal the offshore footprints of some of the world’s biggest corporates as well as individuals. UNI