Martial arts movie star Jackie Chan and
Bollywood’s Amitabh Bachchan are among celebrities who feature in a massive
leak of documents, some of which reveal hidden offshore assets.
Bachchan, simply known as the “Big B” in
India, was appointed a director of at least four shipping companies registered
in offshore tax havens and set up 23 years ago.
According to the Indian Express newspaper, the
authorised capital of these companies ranged from just $5,000 to $50,000 but
they traded in ships worth millions of dollars.
The Express is among more than 100 media
groups which have investigated a massive leak of 11.5 million documents from
Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm with offices in 35 countries.
Bachchan, who has long since resigned from
the companies and has not commented on the documents, is not the only member of
his famous family named in the leaks.
His
daughter-in-law, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, was also director and
shareholder of an offshore company, along with members of her family, before it
was thought to have been wound up in 2008, according to the newspaper.
The media adviser of the former Miss World
winner has rejected the documents as “totally untrue and false”.
As with many of Fonseca’s clients, there is
no evidence that the Bollywood A-listers used their companies for improper
purposes and having an offshore entity is not illegal.
But the documents, naming more than 500
Indians including real estate tycoons in Fonseca’s list of offshore companies,
foundations and trusts, come at a sensitive time in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has
vowed to crack down on the “menace” of so-called black money — vast sums
stashed abroad to keep them secret from Indian tax authorities.
Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan has also been
revealed to have at least six companies represented by Fonseca’s firm, though
he too may have used the companies legitimately for business purposes rather
than for tax avoidance.
The stash of records was obtained from an
anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with media
worldwide. The documents, from around 214,000 offshore entities, cover almost
40 years.
