Siva group firms in offshore leaks list

British Virgin Islands-based firm, linked to Chennai, holds business interests in Norway, says group

Several entities linked to Tamil Nadu-born entrepreneur C Sivasankaran figure in the offshore leaks database put up by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

As already reported, the names and listed addresses of as many as 498 India-linked entities were made public after a global expose on secret offshore accounts, done by the US-based rights group.

The addresses of these Indian entities and individuals are those of upmarket localities in a number of cities in this country. The Union government is reported to have approached the authorities in offshore tax havens for details on what ICIJ had indicated.  

Sivasankaran is chairman of the Siva group, with interests in shipping, renewable energy, telecom, hospitality and agri-based businesses. ICIJ’s offshore leaks database reveals the names behind about 100,000 secret companies and trusts created by two offshore services firms, the Singapore-based Portcullis TrustNet and British Virgin Islands (BVI)-based Commonwealth Trust Ltd.

While Sivasankaran himself is listed in two addresses based in Fremont, USA, and Singapore, one of the group’s offshore entities has shareholders and directors based in Chennai. Siva Ventures is listed as the shareholder and master client of Lotus Ventures Investments Ltd. Lotus is a “business company limited by shares” and was incorporated in the  BVI in September 2006.

Vaidyanathan Srinivasan, who is group chief executive of the Siva group, is named as the director of Lotus Ventures.

In an email response to Business Standard, a Siva group spokesperson said, “Siva Ventures (SVL), being the holding company, incorporates wholly owned subsidiaries which are Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that ultimately hold the controlling interest in the respective business verticals. One of the companies is Lotus Ventures, incorporated in the BVI. Till recently, it was holding our controlling interest in Isklar, a Norway-based company selling glacier water under the brand name of Isklar.”

Srinivasan, according to the spokesperson, had no personal interest in any of the offshore entities. “He is the wholetime director of SVL and gets nominated on the boards of SPVs as is required from time to time for reasons stated above.”

The Siva group’s businesses “are spread far and wide”, from America in the west to Papua New Guinea in the east. The database shows that Chinnakannan Sivasankaran, based in Fremont, California, is the shareholder and director of six BVI–based companies. Five of these – Siva Ltd, Define Edge Holdings, Genius Force Overseas, Bold Investments and Broad Court Investments — were each incorporated as a “business company limited by shares” between March and October 2006. Sivasankaran holds Bold Investments through Siva Ltd.

Sivasankaran is also a shareholder and director of Incandess Worldwide,  incorporated in BVI as a standard international company in 2007.

Elsewhere, another entity “C Sivasankaran”, based in Singapore, is listed as master client of Genius Force, Broadcourt, Define Edge, Bold Investments and C Sivasankaran himself.

“As regards the other BVI entities, they are private investment vehicles of Mr Sivasankaran and has nothing to do with the Siva Group. As you rightly said, they are personal investment vehicles of Mr Sivasankaran and no investment or business vertical of the Siva Group has invested or operates through these entities,” the Siva group spokesperson said.