Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy on Tuesday lashed out at YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy and demanded an explanation from him, on his name reportedly surfacing in the disclosures made in the Paradise Papers.
“It is not just the CBI and the ED that are after Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy. According to media reports, his name also figures in the list of people linked to offshore accounts,” the minister was quoted as saying.
He also said that the Leader of Opposition owed an explanation to the people of the state.
Last week, the names of several Indians surfaced, linked to companies in offshore tax havens, according to a journalistic investigation published by media outlets, dubbed the 'Paradise Papers'.
The investigation also reportedly uncovered fresh financial links in the CBI case against YSR Congress Party Chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
The investigation was performed by 382 reporters at almost 100 media outlets who analysed more than 13 million tax haven documents covering the period 1950-2016, Efe news reported.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and singers Bono and Madonna are among the 127 internationally known figures linked to offshore tax havens.
The documents from 19 jurisdictions on the worldwide list of tax havens were leaked from the Appleby and Asiatici Trust Law Firm and received by Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which called in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to examine them.
The Indian Express, which worked with the ICIJ, reported that Apppleby’s records show details of financial transactions related to Nimmagadda Prasad, an industrialist who is also an accused in Jagan's case, and is also named in one of the chargesheets.
The allegations against Jagan relate to the period 2004-2009. Jaganmohan reddy, who was arrested in May 2012, spent 16 months in jail before he was released on bail in 2013.
The chargesheets say that Jaganmohan Reddy, in criminal conspiracy with others, got allotted a mining lease to Bharathi Cement Corporation Private Limited illegally and received bribes from various persons/companies in the guise of investments in his group companies as 'quid pro quo' for undue favours granted to them by Andhra Pradesh government when Jagan's father YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister.
The Enforcement Directorate said its investigations revealed that Jaganmohan Reddy laundered the proceeds of crime through his group companies Sandur Power, Classic Realty, Silicon Builders, Saraswati Power and Industries and 10 other companies in the form of investments, purchase of movable and immovable properties and third party payments etc.
11 chargesheets have been filed by the CBI against Jagan, senior government officials of Andhra Pradesh and businessmen in the 'quid pro quo' investment case.
IANS inputs