Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt's wife named in Paradise Papers

After the ruckus of Panama Papers, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has brought forth the Paradise Papers, and some really notable names from Bollywood are part of it.

According to reports in Indian media, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt's wife Manyata Dutt are among the 714 Indians named in the tally. Paradise Papers consists of 13.4 million files from “a combination of offshore service providers and the company registries of some of the world’s most secretive countries”.

The documents include loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork from Appleby, a leading offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda, as well as files from a smaller trust company, Asiaciti.

Indian media reported Bachchan Sr. had shares in a digital media company called Jalva Media Ltd, set up in Bermuda in July 2000 after the first season of Kaun Banega Crorepati came out. The company shut down in 2005 and it remains unclear whether Big B declared his shareholdings to Reserve Bank of India, required by the country's law at the time.

There has yet to be a statement issued by Bachchan on the issue.

As far as Dutt is concerned, Indian Express reports that documents in the Bahamas registry show that Manyata Dutt was appointed Director, Managing Director, President and Treasurer of Nasjay Company Limited, which was set up in the Bahamas in April 2010. She appended her signature to the agreements, and her address appears as Bandra West, Mumbai. The 2010 capital of the company is shown as $ 5,000.

A spokesperson for Manyata Dutt ─ who held several positions in the Bahamas-registered firm Nasjay Company Ltd ─ has issued a statement saying "all properties, company or body corporate or shares in any company are declared in the balance sheet."