The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Sunday released Pandora Papers, an investigation into secret offshore assets of over a dozen heads of states, thousands of important government officials, presidential advisors, military leaders, and business tycoons.
The leaked documents also include the name of the former Indian captain, Sachin Tendulkar, among more than 300 Indian personalities who own secret offshore assets
Although the attorney of Tendulkar has denied any wrongdoing, The Indian Express, which was part of the ICIJ’s collaborative research, said that the country’s all-time batting great “re-organized his offshore assets following the 2016 Panama Papers investigation.”
The documents show that Sachin Tendulkar, his wife, Anjali Tendulkar, and his father-in-law, Anand Mehta, owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.
However, the company, Saas International Limited, was liquidated in 2016, three months after the Panama Papers were released.
“It remained operational from 2012 to 2016 when Tendulkar was a member of the Indian parliament,” the report revealed.
“The average buyback price of shares of Saas International Limited is around $96,000. And as a resolution of the company dated August 10, 2007 (the day the company was formed) shows, 90 shares of the company were issued at the outset,” the Indian publication said.
The CEO and the Director of Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, Mrinmoy Mukherjee, told the newspaper that the former cricketer’s investments were ‘made from his tax paid funds under the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) and has been duly accounted for and declared in his tax returns.’
“We reiterate that the investment by Tendulkar has been legitimately made through banking channels from India and has been declared to the income tax authorities,” the CEO stressed.
