Seizing on the “Paradise Papers” revelations detailing the offshore financial transactions of the world’s rich and powerful in global tax havens, the principal Opposition Congress party on Monday sought to turn the heat on the Narendra Modi government, alleging that it has “betrayed the people of the country with zero action against Indians’ black money stashed overseas”.

The Paradise Papers reportedly include data on 714 Indian individuals and corporate entities.
Attacking the Modi government’s “abysmal” trackrecord on curbing black money, the Congress’s chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said : “No FIR has been registered in the (2016) ‘Panama Papers’ expose and now 714 Indian links of the ‘Paradise Papers’ have revealed new tax havens.”

Maintaining that even 41 months after coming to power, PM Modi has allegedly “not taken any action against black money”, Surjewala demanded that his government should immediately order investigations into the Paradise Papers expose and bring to book the wrongdoers.

Highlighting the inclusion of names of Union Minister Jayant Sinha and a BJP Rajya Sabha MP and founder of Security and Intelligence Services (SIS) R K Sinha in Paradise Papers, the Congress demanded action against them along with some other BJP leaders like

Abhishek Singh, son of Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh, whose names had allegedly figured in the Panama Papers.

It is another matter that the Indian names figuring in the Paradise Papers also reportedly include a firm Ziqitza ~ with Congress leader Sachin Pilot and former Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti as its early honorary/independent directors ~ linked to the Rajasthan ambulance scam being probed by the CBI.

On its part, the BJP appeared in a quandary after names of Jayant and R K Sinha appeared in the leaked Paradise Papers.

Jayant was quick to refute the allegation, saying that he had no longer any links with the foreign companies named in the Paradise Papers.

“After leaving Omidyar Network, I was asked to continue on the D Light Board as an Independent Director. On joining the Union Council of Ministers, I immediately resigned from the D Light Board and severed my involvement with the company,” Sinha tweeted.

He said he had already informed the authorities about his role in the company named in the Paradise Papers.

“Whatever we did was completely bonafide and legal. There is no reason to doubt. This was at a time when I was not active in the political arena. Whatever was done was on behalf of the company, and not for any personal reason,” he said.

R K Sinha, however, has kept mum over the allegations against him. He had reportedly
taken a vow to remain silent for seven days