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Press Trust of India | New Delhi April 6, 2013 Last Updated at 17:00 IST
Asia's biggest
independent group of trust companies
for comprehensive wealth administration
independent group of trust companies
for comprehensive wealth administration
We are Asian-owned and focused on Asia.
We are independent because we are not owned by a bank.
We are a one-stop shop employing: lawyers and accountants;
trust, foundation and company administrators and fiduciaries
that offer corporate, trustee and fund administration services
to high net worth individuals, family offices, philanthropies, private banks,
trust, foundation and company administrators and fiduciaries
that offer corporate, trustee and fund administration services
to high net worth individuals, family offices, philanthropies, private banks,
investment managers and advisers. LATEST NEWS
UPDATE
The Portcullis TrustNet Group has identified an individual whom it strongly suspects as having been involved in the data theft that has led to information being published in a series of articles coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. A report has been filed with the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, and they are investigating the matter.
Based on our review, we have good reason to believe that the data theft ended in early 2010. Notwithstanding this, we have engaged KPMG to conduct an IT security review and we have reviewed our physical and information security at all levels.
If you have further queries, please contact Chris Lee (chris.lee@pc-tn.com) or Morris Yow (morris.yow@pc-tn.com) in our Singapore office.
http://www.portcullis-trustnet.com/en/home/
ICIJ on Indians' bank accounts in British Virgin and Cook Islands
ICIJ OFFSHORE LEAKS DATABASE
The database contains ownership information about companies created in 10 offshore jurisdictions including the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and Singapore. It covers nearly 30 years until 2010.
Officers & Master Clients: First Global India Holdings Limited
Offshore Entities:
498 INDIANS NAMED IN TAX HAVEN SCOOP
Sunday, 16 June 2013 | J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi
Nearly 500 Indians and Indian companies have bank accounts in tax havens like British Virgin, Cayman and Cook Islands and Singapore. They are among the 10,000 account holders worldwide whose comprehensive list was released by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Saturday. Interestingly, the official residential addresses of two senior Government officers also figure in the list.
In the massive worldwide exposé, titled 'Secrecy for Sale', the ICIJ released the names of 498 Indians and several Indian companies having bank accounts in the tax havens.
As per the list, one Ritu Verma's bank account carries the address of the official residence of a senior IAS officer of the UT cadre in Delhi. The address is: D-II-225 Vinay Marg, Chanakyapuri in New Delhi.
Inquiries by The Pioneer have revealed that the UT cadre IAS officer held important posts in the Delhi Government. He was transferred to Goa sometime ago, but now he is back in Delhi and resides at the same address.
According to ICIJ, Ritu Verma is a Director of Windsor Incorporation Inc since August 13, 2007. The company's address is shown as: Portcullis Trust Net Chambers, PO Box 3444, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
The other Government accommodation figuring in the list is: 15 E, CPWD Quarters, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. This address is shown as that of one Sanjay Wali. The CPWD quarters in Vasant Vihar are allotted to senior Government officials.
According to ICIJ's exposé, Sanjay Wali is a Director of Crest Strategies Limited since September 6, 2006. This company is registered in Dubai and has accounts in tax havens.
A majority of the 498 Indian addresses are from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Baroda, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. All the posh colonies in these metros figure in the list.
Addresses from Delhi's posh areas include Greater Kailash, Defence Colony and Golf Links Road. Besides, Chennai's Pycrofts Garden Road and Race Course Road also figure in the list of bank account holders in tax havens.
Several Indian businessmen and their family members' names and their associations with trusts and companies are mentioned in the lengthy list produced by ICIJ on their website.
People from areas like Raipur, Bellary, Kurukshetra, Khammam, Ludhiana, Ajmer, Bhopal, Muzaffarpur, Baripada (Odisha), Kochi and Pondicherry also figure in the list.
"The ICIJ publishes today a database that, for the first time in history, will help begin to strip away this secrecy across 10 offshore jurisdictions. The Offshore Leaks Database allows users to search through more than 1,00,000 secret companies, trusts and funds created in offshore locales such as the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands and Singapore. The Offshore Leaks web app, developed by La Nación newspaper in Costa Rica for ICIJ, displays graphic visualisations of offshore entities and the networks around them, including, when possible, the company's true owners," ICIJ, in the introduction of their exposé, said.
"When Bernard Madoff built his $65 billion house of cards; when food distributors passed off horsemeat as beef lasagna in Europe; and when Apple, Google and other American companies set up structures to channel their profits through Ireland - they all used tax havens.
"They bought secrecy, minimal or zero taxes and legal insulation, the distinctive products that tax havens market and that allow companies to operate in a fiscal and regulatory vacuum. Using the offshore economy is akin to acquiring your own island where the rules that most citizens follow don't apply," said ICIJ in the forward note to their biggest exposé, justifying the publication of bank accounts in tax havens across the world. The Journalists' organisation promises more release of bank accounts in the coming days.
498 Indians hold offshore A/Cs in tax havens
TNN | Jun 16, 2013, 05.59 AM IST
NEW DELHI: A database of one lakh offshore entities in tax havens owned by, among others, 498 Indians with addresses in upscale enclaves in major cities, generated a huge buzz on Saturday with agencies expected to try and decipher the disclosures.
The last tranche of disclosures came out in April, among them were names of industrialists Vijay Mallya and Ravikant Ruia and Congress MP Vivekanand Gaddam, although nothing incriminating has been found about any of their offshore entities.
The database on secret companies, trusts and funds created in tax havens such as British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Cook Islands — published by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) — has been made accessible online.
Given the heated political debate on black money in India, the disclosures are expected to lead to renewed calls for information received from countries such as France, Germany and Japan be made public. So far, the government has said that the nature of international agreements prevents it from doing so.
Among the owners with Indian addresses, 194 are from Mumbai (or Bombay), the highest among all the cities. New Delhi is second in that list with 113 owners of offshore entities. The remaining cities, in the descending order of the number of owners, are Kolkata (39), Bangalore (36), Chennai (31), Hyderabad (13), Gurgaon (9) and Ahmedabad (7).
Responding to the new information from ICIJ about hidden off-shore wealth, Financial Transparency Coalition, a network of international NGOs, said that it confirmed "beyond reasonable doubt that the world's financial system legitimizes industrial-scale tax avoidance, aids criminals and drug cartels and facilitates corruption up to the highest levels of our society".
ICIJ, however, clarified that the people and companies mentioned in the database were not necessarily involved in tax avoidance or evasion. "There are legitimate reasons to use offshore companies and trusts," it said, "ICIJ does not intend to suggest or imply that the people and companies included in the database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly."
The database is part of a cache of 2.5 million leaked offshore files ICIJ analyzed with 112 journalists in 58 countries. This is not a "data dump", ICIJ said, as "it is a careful release of basic corporate information".
The purpose of the "offshore leaks database" is only to make company ownership information transparent. ICIJ has therefore published the postal addresses of the owners without disclosing other personal data such as records of bank accounts and financial transactions, emails and other correspondence, passports and telephone numbers.
Within days of ICIJ's April release of dozens of stories, French president Francois Hollande called for the "eradication" of tax havens. Europe's largest economic powers - the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany - announced that they will start exchanging bank information.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/498-Indians-hold-offshore-A/Cs-in-tax-havens/articleshow/20611959.cms