BHOPAL: The Income Tax department on Monday claimed it has found new evidences of unaccounted money to the tune of Rs 30 crore allegedly accumulated by Bhopal-based mining expert-turned-businessman Sanjay Vijay Singh, which he had invested offshore.
The claims gain significance as Shinde’s name figured in the Panama Papers.The three days of raids at Shinde’s properties in Bhopal and Goa have led the I-T department to a trail of documents, which reveal that Shinde parked over Rs 30 crores unaccounted money abroad using shell companies, like Venus Bay Offshore Limited of which he was a shareholder and director.
“It’s perhaps the first case related to Panama Papers in central India that the department has struck a major breakthrough, by detecting that over ` 30 crores unaccounted was parked in offshore business entities abroad. Details about overseas destination where the undeclared income was parked and other specifics about the investigations cannot be shared at this moment, as it would undermine our agreements with other nations,” said a senior I-T department official.The department is digging further into the case, aided by documents seized from Shinde’s properties and also detailed info revealed from the other country.
“We’re now probing possibilities of not only Shinde, but others known to him having used the shell firms to park unaccounted money abroad,” added the official.
While the tax sleuths remained tight-lipped over country specific details, informed sources revealed that money was parked in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands based offshore banks and fund managing entities.A native of Gwalior district and an expert of mining, Shinde was reported to be having accounts with Portcullis Trustnet (BVI) Limited, UBS-Ag, Singapore and Venus Bay offshore limited, as reported in the Panama Papers leaks.Shinde presently operates adventure sports complex and exotic resort, besides a kart racing track at Ratibad on Bhopal’s outskirts spread in 17 acres land.
MP Electricity Board official’s son in soup
The I-T sleuths have also detected undeclared income worth around D30 crore by a real estate group owned by the son of former official of the MP Electricity Board (MPEB) Pradip Saraiya and business partner Santosh Ramtani.