Amitabh Bachan, Vijay Mallya among 714 Indian names found in Paradise Papers

Amitabh Bachan and film star Sanjay Dutt's wife also linked to Paradise Papers

The largest global leak of financial data so far, referred to as The Paradise Papers, have included the activities of the firms Appleby (in Bermuda) and Asiaciti (in Singapore) and their role in moving funds across 19 tax havens. The trove of 13.4 million documents has emerged 18 months after the Panama Papers and was given to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which compiled the documents.



As reported by Indian Express, India is in the top twenty countries represented in the latest leak, with a total of 714 individuals and groups whose data has been exposed. One of these, the company Sun Group, is noted as being Appleby's second biggest client internationally, with 118 offshore entities. Famous personalities were also included in the list, with Amitabh Bachchan and film star Sanjay Dutt's wife both making an appearance.



While having an offshore account is not necessarily a sign of wrongdoing, it often goes hand-in-hand with tax avoidance and other financial crimes. It can corroborate accusations of wrongdoing against businessmen like Vijay Mallya and prove mis-declaration of funds against public office holders such as Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha- both of whom appear in the latest leaks.