Panama papers out with more names

More names and details tumbled out of the controversial Panama papers on Tuesday, which showed how wealthy Indians sought to open offshore companies to protect their wealth.

The names of businessmen Gautam and Karan Thapar, Ranjeev Dahuja and Kapil Sain Goel, jeweller Ashwini Kumar Mehra, businessman Ashok Malhotra and pharmaceuticals maker Vinod Ramachandra Jadhav have been publicised by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its India partner Indian Express.

Other names are IT consultant Gautam Seengal, agribusiness owner Vivek Jain, retired government employee Prabhash Sankhla, and garment exporters Satish Govind Samtani, Vishal Bahadur and Harish Mohnani. Bahadur and Samtani now reside in Bengaluru.

The expose also showed how businessmen used the offshore companies. It claimed on Tuesday that Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod, whose name was published on Monday, wanted a correction in spelling from Adani to Shah in the company he set up in Bahamas.

The names of Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, DLF founder K P Singh, India Bulls’ Sameer Gehlaut and underworld don Iqbal Mirchi were released on Monday. As more details came out, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said in Mumbai that the multi-agency probe will look into the legitimacy of such holdings of Indians named in the Panama Papers. However, he said, there could be genuine reasons for having offshore accounts.

According to fresh claims, Mehrasons Jewellers' Ashwani Kumar Mehra and his family members have a couple of offshore entities in Bahamas and British VirginIslands (BVI). Records also show that the registered agents were changed more than once for offshore entities.