Paradise Papers: Indian company owners whose identities are out in open

Overseas jurisdiction
Malta

Registry data show the three businessmen are listed together in two companies registered in Malta. While the name of one company is not listed, the other is called Articq Media Ltd. This entity was incorporated in 2013 as a limited liability company with a nominal share capital of EUR1,200. Jaydeep holds 150 shares; the other two Directors hold 225 shares each. The company filed returns up to December 2015. The division of shares is identical in the second company.

RoC data show Jaydeep runs Aneek Solutions Pvt Ltd in India. Luv Kalra and Swapnil Chaturvedi, who live in Lucknow, are Directors of Fivered Tech Pvt Ltd and Club Empire Tech Pvt Ltd, both registered in Kolkata. Club Empire Tech was incorporated in 2015, and Fivered Tech this year.

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RESPONSE: Jaydeep Chakravarty said: “I incorporated the company around four year ago along with my two friends. My stakes in the company were only 25 per cent. The purpose of this company was to do business in the marketing sector in European countries. But this did not work, and since then I have not made any transaction.” Chakravarty said he did not take permission from the RBI, and has also not declared the company in his I-T returns.

Luv Kalra said, “Since no business has been done so far, I have not mentioned it in our income-tax returns. We have not taken authorisation from the RBI.”

Swapnil Chaturvedi said, “We have not done any business before incorporating these two firms.” – MANISH SAHU, Lucknow and SHYAMLAL YADAV, New Delhi

UDAY BHAN SINGH
Jaipur

Overseas jurisdiction
Malta

Uday Bhan Singh works in a company manufacturing incense sticks in Jaipur. The family moved to the city from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh around the year 2000, Uday Bhan Singh’s father Janardhan Singh said. Uday Bhan lives with his parents and younger sister in a small two-storey house on the outskirts of the city. The documents list him as Director, shareholder, judicial representative and legal representative of a company.

RESPONSE: Uday Bhan said he had no knowledge of any company in Malta. The Indian Express was later contacted by an individual who identified himself as Shiv Ram Singh, based in Kanpur, who said Uday and he used to export leather goods overseas through a company called Bapu International, but they had severed those links after a partner was caught in an alleged fake currency scam. Thereafter, Shiv Ram said, “Uday used to work in my company Nirman Exports Pvt Ltd, which we set up about two years ago with the aim of exporting leather goods, such as leather purses, belts, bags, etc.”

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Uday, Shiv Ram said, used to look after the company’s marketing, and travelled to Malta on one occasion. However, “Uday hasn’t been working with the company for about a year now, as his visa application was rejected… We still have about Rs 18-20 lakh worth of unsold goods, sent through Bapu International, there (in Malta),” he said. Shiv Ram said no permission was sought from RBI. “I haven’t declared it in Income-Tax returns, but have mentioned it in Sales Tax,” he said. – HAMZA KHAN, Jaipur

SHIV RAM SINGH & NAVEEN SINGH DEWAL
Kanpur

Overseas jurisdiction
Malta

Malta registry data for 2015 show that Shiv Ram Singh of Kanpur became a Director of Bapu International Pvt Ltd in December 2014. Four other Indians are listed as Directors along with him. In another Malta company, also listed is Naveen Singh Dewal, also from Kanpur.

Shiv Ram Singh lives in J K Colony in Kanpur’s Jajmau locality. He said he is in the real estate business. Naveen Singh Dewal said he deals with the network marketing firm Amway. He said he had left Kanpur some ten years ago, and now lives with his family in Delhi.

RESPONSE: Shiv Ram Singh said, “I joined the company as Director four years ago. The company was started by three partners around six years ago to export goods to Malta. I paid Rs 7 lakh to one of the partners, Suresh Rana, who had 51 shares in the company, to become a Director. I stopped doing business with Bapu International Pvt Ltd after coming to know that one of the three partners in the firm was arrested in Malta with fake Euros a year ago. The firm still exists but is doing no business at present. I have not resigned from the post of Director,” Shiv Ram Singh said.

He added, “I have not mentioned details about Bapu International Pvt Ltd in my income-tax returns because so far I have not earned any money from the business done through the firm. I have no information that authorisation is needed from RBI for it.”

Naveen Singh Dewal said: “I went to Malta in 2014 and signed a few documents on the advice of a chartered accountant, to become Director in the firm. However, I have so far not received any documents from Malta confirming that I have been made a Director in Bapu International Pvt Ltd.” Dewal said he had not obtained authorisation from the RBI before becoming a Director of the firm. “Bapu International Pvt Ltd was incorporated by three (other) persons, and I have no information whether they took authorization from RBI… I did no business through the firm, so I did not mention it in my income-tax returns.” – MANISH SAHU, Lucknow

INDRA DURLABHJI
Jaipur

Overseas jurisdiction
Malta

Indra Durlabhji, 72, is managing director of Lee Construction Pvt Ltd in Jaipur. Registry data show that along with five Mumbai-based Indians, he is a Director as well as judicial representative and legal representative of a company, which is not named.

RESPONSE: Durlabhji said: “There is Shyam Ruia’s Raptakos, Brett & Co. Ltd., where I am a non-working Director. We started a small branch in Malta in 2015-end, to study the possibilities of exporting to the European Union. We (Raptakos) are a pharmaceutical company and we make Threptin Biscuits, which are medical biscuits. However, not much has happened (at the Malta branch). We took permission from the RBI. As for IT returns, if there is a profit, it will be reflected in Raptakos’ (accounts).” – HAMZA KHAN, Jaipur

SUNILKUMAR KHUSHALCHAND DESAI
Mumbai

Offshore jurisdiction
Malta

Sunilkumar Khushalchand Desai, who lives in Savani Apartments in Ghatkopar West, confirmed that he is a Director at Sovika Aviation, Sovika Chemical and Golden Aviation. He is the CEO and Managing Director of Prashi Pharma, according to the firm’s web site. His son Manthan Desai is a Director. The firm, according to the web site, manufactures pharmaceutical products and exports them to several countries in Africa.

Another Desai family member, Kunal Desai, who is Director (Sovika Group), is in charge of a joint venture with Prashi Pharma, “to create a pharmaceutical production company in the name of Prashi Pharma Malta Ltd”. The web site states that a 4,000 sq m manufacturing plant is currently under construction in Malta.

Malta data reveal that Sunilkumar Khushalchand Desai and his two relatives are named as Directors, judicial representatives and legal representatives of three companies. Two other firms, Ramla Trading Ltd and Sovika Holding Malta Ltd are listed as shareholders of one.

RESPONSE: Desai said: “We do have some plants abroad, but they are not offshore companies.” – SRINATH RAO, Mumbai

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