Entertainment company Lyca Productions has stated that it is filing a criminal case against a newspaper 'Malai Murasu', for an "inaccurate and defamatory" article in the newspaper, which alleged that the company was involved in tax fraud.
In a press release, the company said:
On June 22nd 2016, Lyca Productions, one of Tamil Cinema’s leading production houses, is filing a criminal and civil case against the newspaper Malai Murasu before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court for an inaccurate and defamatory article printed in their newspaper on June 21st, 2016. The article alleges that Lyca Productions was involved in tax fraud and that employees were arrested in France. Lyca Productions would like to clarify that it has no connection with this incident, and this false news is being propagated intentionally by other sources with malicious motives. Lyca Productions has a very solid reputation in the film fraternity, and has been consistently involved in the production of major movies.
However, while the company denies reports, it was widely reported that nineteen people were in fact arrested in France in connection with a multi-million pound tax and money laundering scandal. It was also reported that the company was the biggest donor to the Conservative Party in Britain - but that company was not Lyca productions, but completely different company called Lycamobile.
The Daily Mail reported:
All (the arrested) are linked to Lycamobile, the multinational telecoms giant, which has given at least £2.2m to Prime Minister David Cameron’s party since 2011, including half-a-million last year alone. Lycamobile also allowed Boris Johnson to use one of their call centres during his successful 2012 campaign to become Mayor of London.
A major investigation by BuzzFeed News last year, revealed that Lycamobile deployed three men to drive around in unmarked people carriers, depositing rucksacks stuffed with hundreds of thousands of pounds twice a day across London, as part of a money laundering scam - none of this however had anything to do with Lyca productions of Kollywood.