BENGALURU: The multi-million dollar network of offshore companies exposed in Panama papers apparently has a Bengaluru connection. Thirty one families were believed to have invested in various companies in the tax haven. Residents of the city have made offshore investments and the companies that they invested in, have been mentioned in the ICIJ global database.
Surprisingly, not a single politician from Bengaluru features on it. After naming Vijay Mallya, the database has now named Ayani Kurussi Ravindranath Nedungadi, Atikukke Harish Bhat and Pathai Ananthasubramanian Murali, all from the UB Group. According to the leaked documents, Nedungadi had become a shareholder in a BVI-based company called Modesto Group Ltd, which was incorporated on April 8, 2005. Nedungadi had recently come under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the probe into a money laundering case against Mallya.
Though the leaks did not specify Nedungadi's investments in BVI, enforcement agencies maintain that he will have to explain the offshore leaks.
Harish Bhat and his partner Brinda Bhat had invested in a BVI-based company named Blazing Horizon Ltd, which was incorporated on April 15, 2008. Their nominee shareholder in the company is Sharecorp Ltd. Similarly, PA Murali and his partner Rukmini Murali had invested in a BVI company named Diamond Dust Inc, incorporated on March 17, 2008. Their nominee shareholder also was Sharecorp Ltd.
In others, two Bellary-based mining families, with their Bengaluru address as 58, Cunningham Road Cross, invested in four BVI companies- Butterworth Holding Properties Inc, Yielding Returns Ltd, Gold Meadow Holdings Ltd and Cap9Biz Ltd. They were made when the demand for iron ore from the state had peaked, around the same time the mining scam broke out.
