Radico Khaitan offshore links remain unexamined

Four years after Pandora Papers, Radico Khaitan's offshore structures face no action.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Four years after the Pandora Papers revealed offshore structures linked to Radico Khaitan's promoters, there is still no sign of regulatory action in the public domain.

The 2021 revelations reported that a Panama-based "Timberlane trust" held 50,000 shares in "Beecool Global Holdings Ltd," a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

Share transfer forms dated October 2013 recorded 25,000 shares each being transferred to Lalit and Abhishek Khaitan, the promoters of Radico Khaitan.

The Pandora Papers were a global investigation coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and published in October 2021. They involved 11.9 million leaked files from 14 offshore service providers in jurisdictions such as Panama, the British Virgin Islands and Seychelles. The papers exposed how politicians, business leaders and wealthy families used offshore trusts and companies to hold assets.

While owning an offshore entity is not illegal under Indian law, failure to disclose it to the tax authorities, or using it to evade taxes or violate the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), is unlawful. It was on these grounds that authorities were expected to examine the Indian names appearing in the leak.