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94-516: The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer , from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung . The newspaper shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists , and a network of more than 380 journalists. Some of

188-480: A cyberattack in the previous year and denied the ICIJ's allegations. After media outlets started reporting on the documents, the company said there was "no evidence of wrongdoing", and they "are a law firm which advises clients on legitimate and lawful ways to conduct their business", and they "do not tolerate illegal behaviour". Appleby stated the firm "was not the subject of a leak but of a serious criminal act", and "this

282-450: A legal personality , limited liability , transferable shares , a centralized management, and shared ownership. In some cases the investment advantages of such a corporation are offset by legal, corporate and account registration fees imposed by the country in which the offshore account is established. Further, the officers of the corporation may be required to establish residence, own real estate, or meet an investment minimum (depending upon

376-518: A 26% increase, and close to $ 270 billion of intangible assets suddenly appeared in Ireland as the year began – more than the entire value of all residential property in the country. This may indicate that Apple took advantage of a tax incentive known as a capital allowance, which gives Irish companies generous tax breaks for buying intangible property – essentially intellectual property like patents. In other words, Apple (some suggest) transferred them to

470-502: A Bermudian subsidiary, Nike International Ltd. This transfer allowed the subsidiary to charge royalties to its European headquarters in Hilversum , Netherlands , effectively converting taxable company profits to an account payable in tax-free Bermuda. Although the subsidiary was effectively run by executives at Nike's main offices in Beaverton , Oregon – to the point where a duplicate of

564-577: A Brazilian conglomerate, and at least one of them was used as a vehicle for paying bribes in Operation Car Wash . Some of these offshore companies are publicly known to operate for Odebrecht in Africa and be involved in bribes. Among those involved in the operation who also are named in the papers are Marcelo Odebrecht , Brazilian businessman and former Odebrecht CEO, his father Emílio Odebrecht and his brother Maurício Odebrecht. Appleby and various banks in

658-449: A Glencore subsidiary of deducting from its taxes "fictitious" payments to other Glencore subsidiaries, and of selling the zinc from its mine (to another Glencore company) in unrefined form to minimize its revenue. Its CEO told shareholders before this that it expected a spike in demand, which did materialize. The mine is owned by Nantou Mining SA, which is owned by Merope Inc, a Bermuda shell company set up by Appleby with directors provided by

752-570: A Star TV subsidiary. In 1998, Essel/Zee turned to journalism with Zee News , the first 24x7 Hindi Language news channel in India. In 2000, Zee Telefilms ended its partnership with Star TV by buying out its shares in Asia Today Ltd. Star India was now free to produce programmes in Hindi in an attempt to target local audiences and lure Zee's viewers away. Star India would not be Zee's only competition in

846-462: A bigger interest and stake in the entertainment industry. That year it incorporated Zee Telefilms Ltd and then looked for a place where Zee's content could be broadcast. Zee and Star TV entered into a joint venture called Asia Today Ltd so Zee could lease a transponder from satellite network AsiaSat . The transponder agreement was signed in April 1992, and Zee TV began broadcasting on 1 October. It

940-674: A case called "Avianca" in which the President of Argentina Mauricio Macri and other officials were imputed. A Russia-owned firm , VTB Bank , put $ 191 million into DST Global , an investment firm part of Mail.ru Group and was founded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner , which used it to buy a large share of Twitter in 2011. A subsidiary of the Kremlin-controlled Gazprom funded an investment company that partnered with DST Global to buy shares in Facebook , reaping millions when

1034-500: A company in the Isle of Man to hold the registration for his private jet, according to Appleby documents. Mahama, the CEO of Engineers & Planners Company Limited, is also under investigation for allegedly issuing bad checks. In 2016, Ghanaian authorities took his company to court for allegedly not making social security payments. The case was later settled. Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta

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1128-538: A lower rate of corporate taxes in Ireland in a so-called sweetheart deal. This attracted the attention of EU regulators as many multinationals were doing the same thing. As the tax break in the Netherlands came to a scheduled end, Apple's law firm, Baker McKenzie , researched island tax havens, asking Appleby officials in numerous jurisdictions to confirm "that an Irish company can conduct management activities ... without being subject to taxation in your jurisdiction." Two of

1222-474: A reckless public relations campaign in response to the overwhelming demand from shareholders for leadership changes at Zee network. They had also tried to merge Zee with some other Indian company in early 2021, but the Zee board rejected it. The Zee Board replied to Invesco's open letter saying they didn't care about the company, and Invesco is not motivated by concerns related to any corporate governance issue, but "by

1316-624: A result, the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein implemented financial openness reforms to get off the list and escape the threat of sanctions, while Panama , Luxembourg , Liechtenstein , Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) were still on the grey list as of late 2009. The expansion of the EU has motivated major improvements in tax-related transparency. The EU requires members to exchange tax information using automatic systems by

1410-524: A secret, and that although the subsidiary's annual report showed revenues of $ 1.9 billion in 2014, Glencore did not mention the subsidiary in its disclosures to the London Stock Exchange or in any other public filing because, it said, it did not consider this a significant investment. The Australian branch of Glencore has been demonstrated to have carried out some $ 25 billion in cross-currency interest rate swaps , complex financial instruments

1504-511: A separate stock listing. The group owned and operated amusement parks of "Essel World" and "Water Kingdom" in Mumbai . Essel World was one of the first amusement parks in India; it was shut down in April 2023. The Shirpur Gold Refinery uses the brand name of Zee Gold in a joint venture with the Essel Group for the marketing of the refinery's products; the Essel Group gets royalties of 20% on

1598-406: A settlement on 31 July 2012. The Stars Group along with its former member of board of directors Wesley Clark and former CEO David Baazov also did business with Appleby. In March 2016, David Baazov and other executives were charged by Canadian regulators with multiple securities fraud charges related to the acquisition of PokerStars. Saadi Yacef , freedom fighter, author, and politician, appears in

1692-473: A subsidiary located in Ireland for the tax incentives, and didn't have to pay any tax on the transaction in Bermuda either, on the value it declared on the property when it sold them to itself. Following a 2013 US Senate investigation, which featured testimony by CEO Tim Cook , Ireland announced that henceforth Irish companies would be required to declare tax residency somewhere in the world. Apple had been paying

1786-565: A trust which holds the Seychelles -based Katonga Investments Ltd. Katonga gave as its source of income Enhas Uganda, another Kutesa-owned company criticized in a parliamentary committee as part of a privatization it said had been "manipulated and taken advantage of by a few politically powerful people who sacrifice the people's interests". Kutesa was also president of the United Nations General Assembly in 2014–2015. Kutesa told

1880-537: Is a Direct to Home (DTH) television provider company which provides DTH service through multiple brands such as Dish TV, d2h and Zing Digital . Dish TV was launched on 2 October 2003 as the DTH provider of the Essel Group and was merged with Videocon D2H on 22 March 2018. The Essel Group maintains a 55% stake in the company while the Videocon Group maintains a 45% stake. It became the largest DTH provider in India after

1974-435: Is a media and entertainment broadcasting company. It was the primary profit generating company of the Essel Group. It owns a constellation of entertainment channels under the brand name of Zee and the channels under the brands of Living Entertainment , Big and "&". The Zee Entertainment Enterprise also owns and operates the record label of Zee Music Company and the film studio of Zee Studios . The company

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2068-632: Is any evidence of regulatory wrongdoing, they would then investigate and take action if appropriate. The Government of Jersey (States of Jersey) also issued a statement of similar effect on 7 November 2017. The jurisdiction of Jersey has recently been independently assessed as fully compliant with international regulatory guidelines on tax transparency. The EU, under the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker , threatened to sue Ireland over its tax deals, although Juncker himself had approved similar tax deals in his own country, Luxembourg . Apple paid all of its taxes in Ireland as required by that country, so Ireland

2162-523: Is appealing the EU decision. HP, Nike, Microsoft and others use the same tax arrangements in Ireland, Luxembourg and other countries, but Apple is frequently cited as a media example. Irish companies are required to pay taxes in Ireland, but if they convince authorities that they are "managed and controlled" from abroad, the companies may win an exemption. As of November 2017, Apple held $ 252 billion offshore. However, Apple has previously publicly stated that it reinvests post-tax earnings (generated outside

2256-429: Is listed in the papers. India ranks 19th out of the 180 countries represented in the data in terms of the number of names. In all, there are 714 Indians in the tally, including noted political leaders like Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha , notable names like actor Amitabh Bachchan (a shareholder in a Bermuda-based digital media company), Dr Ranjan Pai of Manipal Group, former Member of Parliament of

2350-507: Is no reciprocal benefit in their sharing information with other governments. All these conditions combine to provide advantages to both legitimate business and to tax evasion. In 2009 the USA initiated increased efforts to close taxation loopholes and identify and prosecute tax evaders using offshore accounts. As an element of this effort, they have pursued amended tax treaties to offset the banking secrecy laws of nations such as Switzerland . In 2010

2444-525: Is one of the largest cases of financial fraud in history. Former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is listed in the papers, having set up a trust called the Antarctic Trust owned by a Delaware corporation . Aziz, a former Citibank executive, told the ICIJ he had set the trust up for estate planning purposes and that the funds had come from his employment at Citibank. An internal Appleby document raised concerns about warrants issued for him in connection with

2538-731: Is that Apple funds relating to these entities have not been remitted to or held in the Island. The JFSC states that it has not seen any of the documentation that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) claims to hold following the Appleby data breach. If the ICIJ possesses data of a criminal or regulatory nature which relates to business activities in Jersey then the JFSC requested that this information be shared with them and, if there

2632-681: Is the multi-system operator of the Essel Group. It provides cable distribution services for household consumption. Established in 1994 as a subsidiary of the Zee Telefilms Ltd (later renamed to Zee Entertainment Enterprises), it was founded as a separate company of the Essel Group following the de-merger of the Zee Telefilms in 2006. In October 2021, it was reported that promotes have just 6.1% stake left in Siti Networks . DishTV India Limited (abbreviated as DTIL , stylised as dishtv )

2726-405: Is the driving force behind most 'offshore' activity. Due to the use of offshore centers, investors are able to conduct investment activities in a more profitable fashion. Often, taxes levied by an investor's home country are critical to the profitability of any given investment. Using offshore-domiciled special purpose mechanisms (or vehicles) an investor may reduce the amount of tax payable, allowing

2820-580: The Daily Monitor he had never done anything with the company. President Ilham Aliyev and his family were involved in offshore dealings according to the leaked documents. The Panama Papers allegedly revealed that the Aliyev family had secret offshore companies used for various financial transactions, including the ownership of luxury properties and involvement in lucrative business deals. Jim Watkins , owner of known Neo-Nazi recruitment image board 8Chan ,

2914-623: The Australian Taxation Office suspects of being used to avoid paying taxes in Australia. The Australian High Court recently held that documents revealed in the Paradise Papers leak could be used by the Australian Taxation Office to assess Glencore's tax obligations, despite legal privilege. Appleby documents detail how Nike boosted its after-tax profits by, among other maneuvers, transferring ownership of its Swoosh trademark to

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3008-632: The Bombay High Court asked the Zee board to call an EGM as demanded by shareholder Invesco, and counsel appearing for Zee Entertainment said the company will inform the court of the date of the EGM by the morning of October 22. On 7 December, Invesco heading towards a resolution, Invesco was expected to back the merger deal with Sony as long as the Goenka family does not get any preferential equity. On 22 December, board of Zee Entertainment Enterprises approved

3102-671: The Democratic Republic of Congo in negotiations over a joint venture with state-owned Gécamines at the Katanga copper mine . One of the Katanga board members was Glencore major shareholder Telis Mistakidis , a former employee whose stock options made him a billionaire in the IPO. Glencore, which had effectively taken over Katanga, agreed to vote for the joint venture. The loan document specifically provided that repayment would be owed if agreement

3196-571: The Enforcement Directorate . The Essel Group has divested a part of its shares in the company for the repayment of pending dues, reducing its stake in the company to 22.37% with much of the remaining stake still pledged as collateral to the remaining dues. In September 2021 ZEEL Announced merger with Sony Pictures Networks India . In October 2021, it was reported that founder Subhash Chandra and his son, Punit Goenka together own just 3.99% stake of Zee Entertainment . On 22 December

3290-634: The European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA) strive for exchanging tax data. The OECD has established a threshold of bilateral tax-information exchange agreements, twelve, as the minimum which a country is also placed on the “white list” and recognized as having “substantially implemented” internationally agreed tax standards. The OECD “grey list” includes countries which have not achieved “white list” status and are considered as fostering tax evasion through insufficient financial openness. As

3384-478: The Isle of Man , including Conister Bank , owned by Arron Banks and Jim Mellon , did business with PokerStars and its founders, Mark Scheinberg and his father Isai Scheinberg , until it was sold for $ 4.9 billion in 2014 to The Stars Group , formerly known as Amaya. PokerStars and its founders were pursued by the US Department of Justice for allegedly money laundering billions until they negotiated

3478-607: The Mumbai Football Club that year, which, though it outlasted Essel's investment in sport broadcasting, was defunct by 2019. In 2016, Zee decided to cut its losses and sold all its sport broadcasting assets to Sony . The joint distribution venture with Turner India ended in 2018. By 2019, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) was Essel Group's only profit-generating company; the group had accumulated an overall debt of around ₹ 20,000 crore (equivalent to ₹ 250 billion or US$ 3.0 billion in 2023). During

3572-568: The packaging industry , with the primary product being the laminated tube units that originated with Lamina Packers. In 1983, the group also began investing in a future amusement park in Mumbai. EsselWorld opened six years later, becoming India's first amusement park. Although the park was partly meant to signal that its parent corporation wanted to be a major force in the entertainment industry , EsselWorld had always been unprofitable until its shutdown in 2023. As of 1992, Essel Group began to take

3666-603: The Bermudian company's seal was needed – for tax purposes the subsidiary was treated as based in Bermuda. Its profits were not declared in Europe and came to light only because of a mostly unrelated case in US Tax Court , where papers filed by Nike briefly mention royalties in 2010, 2011 and 2012 totaling $ 3.86 billion. Under an arrangement with Dutch authorities, the tax break was to expire in 2014, so another reorganization transferred

3760-472: The Delhi machinery to Hisar, where he was able to turn consistent profits by selling polished whole grains to Gujarat and South India . By 1966, the firm was operating one dal mill and two cotton ginning factories. In 1967, the business suffered a series of losses, leaving the Goenka family at a net deficit of ₹ 600,000 (equivalent to ₹ 32 million or US$ 380,000 in 2023). Between 1967–68,

3854-587: The FCI in the same year, Essel established a new subsidiary, Lamina Packers, to manufacture packaging materials. In 1981, Essel obtained lucrative export contracts for rice and soya beans as a result of Indo– USSR bilateral trade agreements . According to a 2014 estimate, Essel Group's net worth by 1982 was over ₹ 100 crore (equivalent to ₹ 160 crore or US$ 19 million in 2023). In December 1982, Lamina Packers became incorporated as Essel Packaging , which marked Essel Group's full-blown venture into

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3948-525: The Goenkas' connections in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) helped the family secure not only a deal to supply it with polished pulses and cleaned barley but also a later contract for storage of food grains. In 1973, control of the company was handed over to Subhash Chandra , the grandson of Jagannath Goenka. The company renamed itself the Essel Group in 1976. After acquiring a storage contract with

4042-492: The Government of India identified undeclared assets worth of about ₹ 246 crore (equivalent to ₹ 276 crore or US$ 33 million in 2023) following the investigation. Two children of deceased former president and dictator Suharto , Tommy and Mamiek , in addition to opposition party leader Prabowo Subianto (Suharto's former son-in-law) and businessman-turned-opposition politician Sandiaga Uno , are listed in

4136-644: The Indian companies listed in the papers are Apollo Tyres , the Essel Group , D S Construction, Emaar MGF , GMR Group , Havells , Hinduja Group , the Hiranandani Group , Jindal Steel , the Sun Group and Videocon . A great deal of the company's intangible property was exposed around the time of an internal Apple Inc. reorganization of three Irish subsidiaries. The company's 2015 gross domestic product showed

4230-629: The Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad as a commercial firm to deal in food grains at the mandi ( product market ) in Adampur, Hisar . In 1946, as a result of poor performance in Adampur, the firm moved to the town of Hisar . Goenka attempted to expand the business in 1948 by setting up a pulses polishing factory in Delhi , but he suffered heavy losses, forcing him to cease Delhi operations in 1951. He moved

4324-644: The Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad by Jagannath Goenka, the company was expanded and converted into the Essel Group of Industries by his grandson, Subhash Chandra . Chandra is part of the Goenka (Goel) family which owns and operates the group; he was also the chairman of the company and a former member of the Rajya Sabha . Experiencing financial troubles in 2019, Essel sold off several of its assets, including Essel Propack and stakes in Zee Entertainment Enterprises . In 1926, Jagannath Goenka founded

4418-557: The Papers in connection with a trust in the Cayman Islands, along with a former energy minister, the family of a former foreign minister and their South Pacific holdings. An opposition party, UNITA , called for an investigation into alleged diversions from the country's sovereign wealth fund . Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais , a close associate of the son of former long-term president José Eduardo dos Santos , has invested over $ 2 billion from

4512-541: The Rajya Sabha and Vijay Mallya , an Indian fugitive former businessman and politician . The papers revealed that Mallya sold United Spirits to Diageo in 2013, which it later approached London-based law firm Linklaters to restructuring the group structure created by Mallya. With three other subsidiaries based in the UK, United Spirits was allegedly involved with diverting funds amounting to $ 1.5 billion. By July 2021,

4606-542: The Swiss bank Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) has paid a fine of $ 780 million and is cooperating on identifying the estimated 19,000 wealthy U.S. tax evaders who have accounts in UBS. The US Internal Revenue Service has offered amnesty to those who come forward voluntarily. Similarly the banking firm HSBC has been alleged to have aided two U.S. citizens in a multimillion-dollar tax evasion scheme that relied on various accounts held in

4700-523: The US and Switzerland agreed to a protocol increasing shared tax information to aid the prosecution of tax evasion. As with all treaties, this does not come into force until ratified by the appropriate legislative bodies (in this case the U.S. Senate and the Swiss Federal Council and Parliament ). As one example of efforts to reduce illegal offshore investments made for the purpose of tax evasion, in 2010

4794-466: The US) into the global economy via investment funds held offshore. Germán Efromovich , founder of Synergy Group , is linked to an offshore conglomerate used for the aerocommercial holding business with ramifications in Bermuda, Panama, and Cyprus. Efromovich used a Panamanian offshore that hid more than 20 firms located in tax havens. The conglomerate was used by Synergy Group's subsidiary Avianca Holdings in

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4888-604: The Zee Institute of Media Arts (ZIMA) which is owned by Zee Learn, the schooling subsidiary of the Essel Group. The Zee Media Corporation was formerly a subsidiary of the Zee Telefilms Ltd (later renamed to Zee Entertainment Enterprises) and existed under the name of Zee News Limited. It was demerged as a separate company of the Essel Group in 2006. The Zee News Limited was renamed to Zee Media Corporation in 2013. Siti Networks Limited (abbreviated as SNL ; formerly Wire & Wireless India Limited ; alternatively Siti Cable )

4982-631: The Zee Institute of Media Arts (ZIMA), Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA) and the Himgiri Zee University, Dehradun (HZU). The company also promoted and operated he ZeeQ channel of the Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The student coaching firm MT Educare became a subsidiary of Zee Learn following an acquisition in May 2018. It has been inactive since 2020 and has become a direct subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises despite having

5076-611: The board of Zee Entertainment Enterprises approved the merger with Sony Pictures Networks India . and now pending for government approval. The Zee Learn Limited (abbreviated as ZLL ; informally referred to as Zee Schools ) is the for-profit education company of the Essel Group. Incorporated in 1958, the company did not begin operating until 2010. Zee Learn founded the private school chains of Kidzee preschools and Mount Litera Zee K–12 schools. As of 2019, it had more than 1,900 Kidzee preschools and 120 Mount Litera Zee schools across India and three institutes of higher education ;

5170-657: The brand name of Zee including the English language news channel WION . The Zee News channel is the flagship channel of the company. The Zee Media Corporation also owns and operates the ZEE5 distribution platform. It was involved in a joint venture with the Dainik Bhaskar Group for the publication of the Daily News & Analysis newspaper but the paper was discontinued in 2019 after suffering loses. The corporation also runs

5264-671: The coming years. Both international and regional broadcasters ate away at Zee's market share, some substantially. Zee News saw its market dominance broken with the emergence of competing channels such as Aaj Tak , STAR News , and NDTV (after its own separation from STAR News). Trying to get a competitive edge, Zee Telefilms entered into a joint venture with Turner Broadcasting System in 2002 so Zee's subscription packages could include Turner subscription channels such as Cartoon Network , Pogo , and HBO alongside Zee Telefilm channels. Essel also had high hopes for another market and more viewers when, through its subsidiary Dish TV , it launched

5358-458: The company registers of 19 tax havens. Süddeutsche Zeitung journalists contacted the ICIJ, which has been investigating the documents with 100 media partners. The consortium made the data available to these media partners using Neo4j , a graph-database platform made for connected data, and Linkurious , graph-visualization software. This allowed journalists across the globe to undertake collaborative investigative work. The documents were released by

5452-566: The conduct of the rights auction. In 2005, Zee went forward with launching the Zee Sports channel, and in the following year it bought Taj Television , which operated the Ten Sports channels. After years of failing to get cricket broadcasting rights, in 2007 the Zee firms funded their own Indian Cricket League (ICL) and televised its games, but it never gained traction and was phased out after two seasons. Under its own name, Essel Group launched

5546-461: The consortium on 5 November 2017. According to the papers, Allergan (the manufacturer of Botox ), Allianz , Apple Inc. , Facebook , Global Vantedge , McDonald's , Nike, Inc. , Siemens , The Walt Disney Company , Twitter , Uber , Walmart , and Yahoo! are among the corporations that own offshore companies . According to The Express Tribune , "Apple, Nike, and Facebook avoided billions of dollars in tax using offshore companies." Among

5640-439: The country this may range up to $ 1 million). An advantage which accrues from establishing a corporate structure is that although a citizen may be proscribed from establishing an offshore account, they can establish a corporation that can do so. Motivations for investment offshore include: Reasons which have been advanced against offshore investment include: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),

5734-650: The country's sovereign wealth fund in Mauritius, according to Appleby documents. In a 20-month period he was paid over $ 41 million in management fees, and invested much of the money in his own projects. The Supreme Court of Mauritius later froze 91 bank accounts associated with Bastos as part of an inquiry into his investments for the Angolan sovereign wealth fund, and suspended the licenses of seven investment companies linked to Bastos' Quantum Global. Ibrahim Mahama , brother of former president of Ghana John Mahama , registered

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5828-628: The details were made public on 5 November 2017 and stories are still being released. The documents originate from the legal firm Appleby , the corporate services providers Estera and Asiaciti Trust , and business registries in 19 tax jurisdictions. They contain the names of more than 120,000 people and companies. Among those whose financial affairs are mentioned are, separately, AIG , then- Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II , President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos , and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross . The released information resulted in scandal, litigation, and loss of position for some of

5922-513: The end of 2011, which assures that Austria , Belgium and Luxembourg are coming into compliance. Further, since January 2007 former tax havens (noted for their banking secrecy and low tax rates for foreign investments) in Bermuda , the Channel Islands ( Jersey and Guernsey ) and the Isle of Man have achieved “white list” status due to their EU ties. Panama is currently recognized as one of

6016-496: The events that transpired during February-April 2021 pointing Invesco purposed deal with Reliance Industries . Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said it proposed to merge all its media properties with Zee Entertainment at fair valuations during discussions in February and March 2021 that US investment firm Invesco helped arrange with managing director and member of the founding family of the media and entertainment company. On 21 October,

6110-503: The firm. Glencore sold Merope in April 2017 but before that it was 100% owned by Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Ltd, which was, according to a document from the Paradise Papers leaks, 100% owned by Glencore Group Funding Ltd of the United Arab Emirates , an entity in turn 100% owned by Swiss firm Glencore International AG, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore plc, registered in Jersey . Documents were also discovered discussing Glencore's desire to keep its substantial stake in SwissMarine

6204-413: The first direct-to-home television in India on 2 October 2003. In 2006, Essel separated Zee Telefilms Ltd into three companies: Zee News Ltd, the group's news broadcasting subsidiary; Wire & Wireless India Ltd (later renamed to Siti Networks ), the cable distribution subsidiary; and Zee Telefilms Ltd, which remained the group's direct consumer broadcasting arm. (Just a year later, Zee Telefilms Ltd

6298-441: The group while Wire & Wireless India Limited (later renamed to Siti Networks ) became the cable distribution company of the group. Following the segregation, Zee Telefilms was rebranded as to Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Between 2002–2018, the Zee Entertainment Enterprises was involved a joint venture with american distribution brand Turner India for the distribution of channels in India, Nepal and Bhutan . The company

6392-546: The intellectual property from the Bermudian company to a Dutch commanditaire vennootschap or limited partnership, Nike Innovate CV. Dutch law treats income earned by a CV as if it had been earned by the principals, who owe no tax in the Netherlands if they do not reside there. One in six dollars of foreign profit earned by US multinationals was earned, at least on paper, through a Dutch CV subsidiary. Companies with similar structures include Tesla, Inc. , NetApp and Uber . Appleby managed 17 offshore companies for Odebrecht ,

6486-608: The investor to achieve greater profitability overall. Another reason why 'offshore' investment is considered superior to 'onshore' investment is because it is less regulated, and the behavior of the offshore investment provider, whether he be a banker, fund manager, trustee or stock-broker, is freer than it could be in a more regulated environment. Offshore investing includes investment strategies outside of an investor's home country. Investment opportunities in money-market, bond and equity assets are available through offshore companies. One may also charter an offshore corporation to provide

6580-494: The killing of a local leader. Aziz dismissed both the murder charge and the allegations of financial impropriety. Alfred Gusenbauer was head of the Social Democratic Party of Austria from 2000 to 2008 and Austria's chancellor from January 2007 to December 2008. He is listed as a director for Novia Management, a Maltese company listed as a shareholder in Novia Funds Sicav Plc, also Malta -based, which includes among its other shareholders Tal Silberstein  [ de ] , who

6674-422: The main demands was the removal of Punit Goenka , son of the Zee Network founder. However the Zee board rejected the demand from Invesco to convene an extraordinary general meeting. Invesco Developing Market Funds Moves to a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the Bombay High Court , seeking a mandatory order for Zee Enterprises Entertainment Limited (ZEEL) to call the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) that

6768-470: The merger. The company is also partnered with The Times Group owned MX Player for streaming services . In May 2021, it was reported that promoters' shareholding in Dish TV has fallen to just 5.67% and Yes Bank has become biggest stock owner of Dish TV . The shareholding further fell to 4.04% by 2023. The Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (abbreviated as ZEEL ; formerly Zee Telefilms Limited )

6862-524: The more attractive countries for legitimate offshore investment as well as for tax evasion, and is on the OECD “grey list”. Panama's free-trade zone handles over $ 19 billion in commerce per year and construction is booming. Corporations are easily created in Panama and, although they are heavily taxed on Panama-domestic operations, they pay no taxes on foreign activities. Company ownership can be readily concealed through

6956-405: The named, as well as litigation against the media and journalists who published the papers. On 20 October 2017, an anonymous Reddit user hinted at the existence of the Paradise Papers. Later that month, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) approached the offshore law firm Appleby with allegations of wrongdoing. Appleby said that some of its data had been stolen in

7050-421: The names of foreign shell corporations, using Swiss lawyers to act as cut-out signatories for some of these accounts. The two men were arrested and are under indictment for tax evasion. Essel Group Essel Group (also known as Zee Group ) is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai . The group has had business interests in mass media , infrastructure and packaging . Founded in 1926 as

7144-737: The net profit for the brand usage. The Refinery recently went public diluting Essel Group's stake to 43.66%. The group also operated the online lottery Playwin in Sikkim . The lottery however ceased operation in 2020, following the sale of assets by the Essel Group for the repayment of pending debts. Essel Group had founded and operated Essel Propack until sale of their stake in 2019. Between 2020 and 2021, Essel Group sold Essel Finance's MSME loan book to Adani Capital , and Essel Mutual Fund to Navi Group . On 11 September 2021, Invesco asked Zee management to call an "extraordinary general meeting" (EGM) of shareholders to consider its demands. One of

7238-466: The next year, Essel Group sold off part of its pledged shares in ZEEL for the repayment of some of its debt. Invesco Oppenheimer acquired an 11% stake in the company, while Essel Group's decreased to 22.37%. The Zee Media Corporation Limited (abbreviated as ZMCL ; formerly Zee News Limited ) is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group. The company operates a constellation of news channels under

7332-561: The oil industry, a sector in which Hoifu planned to expand. The principal shareholder of the company was Hui Chi Ming. Neil Bush , brother of George W. Bush , was a director (deputy chairman) of the company. Former Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Mynbayev is listed as an original shareholder of Meridian Capital Ltd. Former BTA Bank Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov is documented for his ownership of Cayman Island-registered CFJ Star Trust, which may have been used in his alleged embezzlement and mismanagement of $ 10 billion of BTA money. The embezzlement

7426-480: The papers as a director of the Bermuda company Songhai Financial Holdings Ltd. a subsidiary of Databank's finance, fund management and investment company Databank Brokerage Ltd., from April 2001 until September 2012. The Ghanaian Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori-Atta , was a co-founder of Databank and a co-director, with Johnson Sirleaf, of Songhai Financial Holdings. Aliko Dangote , then Africa's richest man with an estimated wealth of 12.1 billion,

7520-469: The papers. The Directorate General of Taxes released a statement that they will follow up the information provided on Indonesian taxpayers. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is listed in the papers. The Bermuda-incorporated company, Hoifu Energy Group , is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and appointed Hatoyama honorary chairman in 2013 because of his "amicable relationship" with

7614-529: The purchase of MacAir Jet, now Avianca Argentina , an aircraft company owned by Macri Group, for an amount of $ 10 million, allowing Avianca to make headway in the low-cost carrier business in Argentina. The Argentine government accepted the offshores as a financial guarantee to assign air routes to Avianca. The whole operation of assigning air routes was investigated by the Argentine federal justice system in

7708-480: The shareholder has been demanding. OFI Global China Fund, who also moved the NCLT along with Invesco, remarked at the hearing that the meeting that Zee Entertainment board had conducted on October 1 was just a legal formality and that it is a classic case of Forum shopping . On 11 October 2021, Invesco wrote an open letter to the other shareholders saying they are disappointed that the leadership of Zee has resorted to

7802-777: The social media giant went public in 2012. Twitter similarly went public in 2013. The US government sanctioned VTB in 2014 because of the Russian military intervention in Crimea , but DST Global had by then sold its stake in Twitter. Four days after the Facebook IPO , a DST Global subsidiary sold more than 27 million shares of Facebook for approximately $ 1 billion. In 2009, Glencore , an Anglo–Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company, loaned $ 45 million to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler in exchange for his help with officials of

7896-415: The subsidiaries moved to Jersey and took intellectual property with them. The third is receiving tax breaks in Ireland for buying Apple IP from another Apple subsidiary. The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) issued a statement regarding Apple on 7 November 2017. The JFSC confirmed that the two Apple subsidiaries referred to by the media are not Jersey-registered companies and their understanding

7990-435: The use of anonymous “ bearer shares ”. As a result, more than of 45,000 offshore shell companies and subsidiaries companies are created in Panama each year; Panama has one of the highest concentrations of subsidiaries of any country in the world. Panama's banks are well regulated, providing stability and predictability. Panama does not yet participate in tax-information-exchange treaties; since they tax only domestic income, there

8084-472: Was India's first Hindi Language satellite channel, and by 1994 it had captured 65% of the satellite market share. Zee TV remained the market leader until 2000. In 1994, Essel Group incorporated Siti Cable to be the distribution subsidiary of Zee Telefilms. Siti would provide cable service to customers to expand the reach of Zee's satellite channels. The company continued to develop entertainment channels that successfully competed with Star India ,

8178-735: Was an illegal computer hack". The company added: "Our systems were accessed by an intruder who deployed the tactics of a professional hacker". The documents were acquired by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung , which had also obtained the Panama Papers in 2016. According to the BBC , the name "Paradise Papers" reflects "the idyllic profiles of many of the offshore jurisdictions whose workings are unveiled", so-called tax havens , or "tax paradises". The data breach comprises some 13.4 million documents—totaling about 1.4 terabytes—from two offshore service providers, Appleby and Asiaciti Trust , and from

8272-578: Was arrested in 2017 with Beny Steinmetz on charges of money laundering, then released. Silberstein had served as Gusenbauer's campaign advisor. The French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud is listed in the papers. As a result of the investigation, according to his lawyer, the filmmaker informed French tax authorities in the month preceding the release of the papers about his offshore holdings. Offshore investment Locations favored by investors for low rates of tax are known as offshore financial centers or (sometimes) tax havens . Payment of less tax

8366-450: Was identified as a co-director of an offshore company with outgoing president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf . Sally Kosgei , member of parliament 2008–2013 and minister of agriculture 2010 to March 2013, owned a million-dollar flat near Harrods in London through an offshore she told Appleby was funded by her flower-export company. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is listed in

8460-474: Was incorporated in 1992 as the Zee Telefilms Limited, the Essel Group's venture into mass media . It launched its flagship television channel, Zee TV on 1 October 1992. In 2006, two subsidiaries of the company were de-merged from the Zee Telefilms Ltd and segregated as distinct ententes under the Essel Group. Zee News Ltd (later renamed to Zee Media Corporation) became the news broadcasting subsidiary of

8554-475: Was involved in sports broadcasting between 2004–2016. It launched its own private cricket league, the Indian Cricket League which held two seasons between 2007–2009 but the league failed to gain traction. In 2016, it sold off all its sports broadcasting assets in the venture to Sony . As of 2020, the company has suffered successive reduction in revenue and has been subjected to investigative probes by

8648-558: Was linked to shell companies residing in tax havens by the Paradise Papers and, previously, by the Panama Papers , then, subsequently, by the Pandora Papers . President of the Nigerian Senate Bukola Saraki is listed in the papers as a director and a shareholder of Tenia Ltd., a company established in the Cayman Islands in April 2001. Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa is listed as beneficiary, along with his daughter, of

8742-735: Was not reached within three months. Gertler and Glencore each have denied wrongdoing. Appleby had worked for Glencore and its founder Marc Rich on major projects in the past, even after his indictment in 1983. Rich was indicted in the United States on federal charges of tax evasion and making controversial oil deals with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis . He received a controversial presidential pardon from U.S. President Bill Clinton on 20 January 2001, Clinton's last day in office. A separate ICIJ project found that tax auditors in Burkina Faso accused

8836-461: Was renamed Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd , and in 2013 Zee News Ltd became Zee Media Corporation Ltd .) Zee Telefilms was trying at this time to enter Indian sports broadcasting , but acquiring cricket broadcasting rights proved very difficult. In 2004, Zee briefly secured rights from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but the contract was canceled following a legal complaint over

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