Beny Steinmetz and Sister of Nirav Modi Named in Pandora Papers
October 06, 21
(IDEX Online) - Diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz, and Purvi Modi - sister of fugitive Indian jeweler Nirav - are among those named in the Pandora Papers, a huge leak of data detailing offshore tax havens.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released what it describes as an "offshore data tsunami" exposing a wealthy elite who use tax and secrecy havens to buy property, hide assets, avoid taxes . . . and worse.
Beny Steinmetz, 65, started out as an Antwerp diamond trader, founded SDG (Steinmetz Diamonds Group) with his brother Daniel, became a major supplier and manufacturer, then diversified into real estate, mining, minerals, financing, oil and gas.
The Pandora Papers identify two companies linked to him, namely Diacore Group of Companies Ltd and Steinmetz Diamond Mining Group Ltd, both incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 2003.
Steinmetz (pictured) was sentenced to five years in jail in January after a Swiss court convicted him of paying $8.5m in bribes in Guinea to secure iron ore rights for the BSGR Group (Beny Steinmetz Group Resources).
In December 2020 he was also given a five-year term by a court in Romania over a fraud involving land that had been nationalized by the government before the collapse of communism there in 1989. He remains fee, pending appeals.
The Times of Israel reports that Steinmetz and his children "decided to transfer some $1 billion from a Lichtenstein-based fund, to one in the Cook Islands".
The Pandora Papers also identify Purvi Modi, whose brother Nirav is accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank out of $1.85bn.
A month before he fled India she "set up a firm in the British Virgin Islands to act as a corporate protector of a trust formed through the Trident Trust Company, Singapore," according to a report in The Indian Express.
The ICIJ cautions that inclusion in its data leak does not suggest criminality.
It says: "There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly."