Page 6 - :: Rashtradarpan Magazine - October 2021 - Edition 1 ::
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of the forms. Pitts alerted the office of   Air India’s life            chase other domestic airlines making na-  sive Panama papers leaked in 2016.
          Fulton County District Attorney Fani   circle – back to                 tionalisation of civil aviation complete.   •The report also mentions that cricket legend
          Willis  to  investigate  as  well  as  contact   original owners        Letter by late prime-minister to JRD TATA  Sachin Tendulkar was among the individuals
          the  Secretary  of  State's  Office, which  is   he government announced on Friday   after catching him off-guard  who asked for the liquidation of his offshore
          doing its own investigation. "Elections   Tthat the Tata Group won the bid to pur-                            entity after the Panama leak.
          are the most important function of our   chase national carrier Air India, the airline   TATAS BACK TO AIRLINES  •According  to  Guardian,  the  papers  reveal
          government," Pitts said. "We have com-  founded by JRD Tata in 1932. Air India’s   After  India  liberalised its  economy in  the  that King of Jordan, Abdullah II, secretly
          mitted  to  transparency  and  integrity."-  ghar waapasi was announced just a week   early 1990s, Tatas set up a joint venture with  amassed $100 million worth of property in
          Fulton  County  drew  national  attention   short of its 89th birthday — October 15.  the Singapore Airlines, which failed initially,  the US and UK, including plush ocean view
          in 2020.  The June presidential prima-  For the record, JRD Tata and Ratan Tata   but in 2012, the two groups came together to  mansions in Malibu.
          ry saw technical difficulties and voters   come from different branches of the Tata   launch a domestic airline, the Vistara.  ARVIND TIKU: India-born Arvind Tiku,
          waiting in lines for hours. In November,   family. But they shared a close relationship,   The winning bid brings to the Tatas, a 100  51, ranked by Forbes in 2021 as the 18th
          then-President Donald Trump claimed   with Rata Tata describing JRD as “a father   per cent stake in Air India and its low-cost  richest in Singapore with a net worth of
          there were illegal votes counted in Fulton                              arm, Air India Express as well as a 50 per  $2.2 billion, has established The Sai Charan
          County. Raffensberger has previously   and brother to me”.              cent stake in ground-handling company Air  Investment Holding Trust in Singapore, of
                                            Air India’s return to the Tata fold happened
          called for Barron and the county's Reg-                                 India SATS Airport Services Private Limited  which Auctus Investments Ltd, a British Vir-
          istration Chief Ralph Jones to be fired   after 68 years of being a government com-  (AISATS).                gin Islands company, is the prime investment
                                            pany. The Jawaharlal Nehru government had
          immediately. Pitts countered, saying he                                 This also brings to Tatas part of Air India’s  holding vehicle with assets of $199.4 million,
          believes Raffensperger wants the state   taken over Air India through nationalisation   debt. The government said as on August 31,  show records of Trident Trust, a global cor-
          to take over elections in Fulton County.   in 1953. Back then, the government had paid   Air India has a total debt of Rs 61,562 crore.  porate services company headquartered in
          "His ultimate goal is based on the provi-  Rs 2.8 crore to Tata Group and took over a   Tata takes over Rs 15,300 crore of the debt.  BVI.
          sions of Senate Bill 202, he would like to   100 per cent stake in the venture.                               He is not just another businessman. His busi-
          take over the elections in Fulton County,     THE BIRTH                                                       ness associates include LN Mittal, chairman
          That is not going to happen, period," said   JRD Tata spent his childhood in France in                        of the world’s largest steel and metal compa-
          Pitts. Any Fulton County resident who   the neighbourhood of Louis Blériot, the first                         ny, ArcelorMittal, and Timur Kulibaev, son-
          has questions about their ballot or ap-  person to undertake an international over-                           in-law of former President of Kazakhstan
          plication can contact the Fulton County   seas flight in 1907, when he crossed the En-                        Nursultan Nazarbayev.
          Department of Registration & Elections   glish Channel in a monoplane.                                        Tiku set up The Sai Charan Trust in Channel
          at 404-612-7030.                  Twenty years later, according to JRD Ta-                                    Islands, Guernsey, in August 2011. The trust-
                                            ta’s biographer RM Lala, he drew a sketch                                   ee of Sai Charan Trust is Standard Chartered
          Travelers in Atlanta              of  Charles  Lindbergh, who  had  flown  solo                               Trust (Guernsey) Limited. It’s a discretion-
                                            across the Atlantic in 1927. This was when
          frustrated by surge of            JRD Tata’s fascination for flying took firm                                 ary trust set up for estate planning of Tiku,
          Southwest Airlines can-           roots.                                                                      who is also the ‘Settlor’ and ‘Ultimate Bene-
          celations                         When Flying Club was opened in Mumbai                                       ficial Owner.’
                                            (then Bombay) in 1929, JRD Tata enrolled                                    Auctus Investments, the BVI company in-
                                            and logged long hours to master the art and                                 corporated in February 2013, owns the
                                            science of flying aircraft.                                                 investment portfolio kept  with  Standard
                                            Three years on, JRD Tata founded Tata Avia-                                 Chartered Bank’s branches in Hong Kong
                                            tion Service in 1932 with an investment of Rs                               and Singapore. This includes cash accounts,
                                            2 lakh and piloted the first flight of Air India,                           bonds,  equities,  and  mutual  funds,  valued
            outhwest Airlines is blaming the   then called Tata Air Mail.                                               at $199.7 million. Auctus Investments is the
         Sweather for a surge of flight cancel-  It was a cargo flight. It soon became a prof-  Open letter by Ratan Tata welcoming their  sole shareholder in several companies, in-
          lations throughout the weekend. The   it-making venture. In five years, Tata Air   own airlines back          cluding two BVI companies, Starlet Group
          airline issued an advisory on Satur-  Mail’s profit rose from Rs 60,000 in 1933 to                            Holdings Inc and Swift Ventures Assets Ltd.
          day10/09/2021 afternoon. The airline   Rs 6 lakh in 1937.               Pandora Papers:                       These two BVI companies have been set up
          said affected passengers that  need to                                  Involvement of the rich,              primarily to own real estate assets and bank
          re-book can view self-service options                                   powerful and political                accounts in the United Kingdom, and the
          by checking their flight status online                                                                        ‘beneficial owner’ for both is The Sai Charan
          or reaching out to customer service.                                                                          Trust. Starlet, the documents show, owns a
          The airline's issues affected travelers at                                                                    $34.7 million property in London, and Swift
          airports across the U.S.  Other domes-                                                                        a $1.9 million property, again in London.
          tic airlines were not experiencing the                                                                        LALIT GOYAL: Observing that “builders
          same wave of flight cancelations. Flight                                                                      only  understand  the  colour  of  money  or  a
          Aware showed Sunday more than                                                                                 jail term,” the Supreme Court bench of Jus-
          1,000 flights Southwest flights were                                                                          tices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah held in
          canceled in the U.S. The flight-tracking                                                                      contempt an IREO Group company on Au-
          site showed on Sunday morning the                                          he "Pandora Papers" investigation in-  gust 19 for failing to comply with its order
          only canceled arrivals and departures                                   Tvolving 600 journalists from dozens of  directing refund of money to a homebuyer.
          at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Interna-                                  media, including The Washington Post and  Many homebuyers, having lost hope of
          tional Airport were Southwest Airlines                                  The Guardian, is based on the leak of some  getting their apartments, are approaching
          flights.                                                                11.9 million documents from 14 financial  courts,  seeking  possession  or  refund.  So
          Ronda Devins, a Southwest Airlines                                      services companies worldwide.         are marquee foreign investors such as Axon
          passenger, said she was trying to get                                   Here's what we know so far:           Capital and Children’s Fund Foundation in
          back home to Houston on Sunday.                                         •The documents have exposed over 300 In-  courts overseas for returns on hundreds of
          She didn't get much information from   TATA-GOVERNMENT                  dians, including those accused of economic  millions of dollars pumped into the group’s
          Southwest Airlines employees.  "These   COLLABORATION                   offenses, former members of Parliament,  projects.  The  IREO  Group  flagship  IREO
          poor people at the desk here are not   Independence changed Tata’s relation with   and those under the radar of investigation  Private Limited is reeling in losses — Rs 500
          to blame, but they have to handle the   the government. Tata Group, in October   agencies.                    crore in 2018-19.
          problem," she said. Devins said her   1947, gave a proposal to the government to   •According to a report by the Indian Express,  But group co-founder Lalit Goyal, whose
          need to get home wasn't as urgent as   float Air-India International.   which was part of the consortium, busi-  sister is married to BJP leader Sudhanshu
          some of the people she waited in line   The government was to hold a 49 per cent   nessman Anil Ambani has 18 asset holding  Mittal, had moved assets, investments, and
          with.                             stake in the Air India venture with a provi-  offshore companies despite declaring bank-  shareholdings, worth an estimated $77 mil-
          Anthony Campbell from Phenix City,   sion of acquiring an additional two per cent   ruptcy in a UK court.     lion, to an offshore trust structure which in-
          Alabama, was frustrated he didn't re-  stake in the company. Tatas were to have 25   •Biocon promoter Kiran Mazumder Shaw's  cluded four entities registered in the British
          ceive any prior notice. "My flight was   per cent and the rest was to be owned by the   husband allegedly set up a trust with keys to  Virgin  Islands  much  before  the group  got
          going to MD Anderson (Cancer Cen-  public. The proposal got the Nehru govern-  a person who Sebi banned for insider trad-  into trouble, reveal internal documents of
          ter) for cancer treatment," he said.   ment’s approval within weeks.    ing.                                  Trident Trust, a global corporate services
          "Now I'm in a dilemma. They're going   Yet, five years after Tata allowed the govern-  •Also, fugitive Nirav Modi's sister set up a  company.
          to delay my treatment. They could have   ment to own a 49 per cent stake, the Nehru   trust just a month before the diamantaire  According to these documents, Goyal — his
          notified everybody so we could make   government decided to nationalise Air India.   fled the country.        residence address is mentioned as Marina
          arrangements."   According to the air-  JRD Tata was taken by surprise and was “in-  •Key persons indicted in the controversial  Bay Residences, 18 Marina Boulevard, #45-
          line, there were air traffic control issues   dignant at the manner in which the govern-  AgustaWestland helicopter deal and their  08, Singapore — had set up the Oak Veneer
          caused by bad weather on Friday. That   ment had treated the air transport industry”.  offshore networks and alleged money flows.  Trust in tax haven Guernsey with Standard
          led to flight delays and cancelations   In 1953, the government paid Rs 2.8 crore   The Express report added that several indi-  Chartered Trust (Guernsey) Ltd as a trustee.
          throughout the weekend.           to purchase the rest of Air India’s stock. The   viduals who owned offshore entities opted to  Trident Trust documents which show Lalit
                                            government paid another Rs 3 crore to pur-  reorganize their foreign assets after the mas-  Goyal as the Beneficial Owner of Turquoise
                                                                                                                        Waters Worldwide Limited.
                                                                                                                      10,October 2021  Vol.3/No-17      6
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