Named in Panama Papers, Meghalaya Businessmen’s Properties Raided

The businessmen’s counsel maintained the off-shore accounts were legal, payments made with RBI’s knowledge.

Mossack Fonseca law firm sign is pictured in Panama City, April 4, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

• Income Tax officials on Thursday raided the residence and offices of three Meghalaya-based businessmen whose name figured in the recently-leaked Panama Papers. Among those houses raided was the residence of Philip Pala, the brother of Shillong MP Vincent H Pala.
  
  
• The Income Tax officials also raided the residence and office of Rohit Jain and the residence of Lesley Shylla. The three are shareholders in two off shore companies – Azure Enterprises Global Inc and Eternal Enterprises Inc – based in British Virgin Island and have a Cyprus address.
  
  
• Apart from the trio, Earce Clifford Kharsyntiew, Bokstar Kurkalang, Karishma Jain, Karan Jain, Reshmi Rohit Jain, and Kenneth Fletcher Rangad in the Panama Papers. However, four businessmen – Kharsyntiew, Shylla, Kurkalang, and Pala – through their counsel S.P.Sharma, maintained that their “offshore investments were legal”.
  
  
• Sharma said that all payments were made strictly through the Indian banking channels with due permission of the RBI, and with its full knowledge and information about the investment.
  

(With inputs from IANS.)

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