Congress leader Captain Satish Sharma, who had close ties with the Gandhis and had passed away in February this year, is among those who had undisclosed properties and entities abroad, an investigation conducted by the Indian Express into leaked Pandora Papers revealed.
At least 10 members of Captain Satish Sharma’s family, including his wife Sterre, children and grandchildren, are listed as beneficiaries under a trust named Jan Zegers Trust—an organisation incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 1995. The trust was later registered under the governing law of New Zealand as well.
Significantly, Sharma was then Union Minister of Petroleum and Gas under the Congress-led government at the Centre and had not made any declaration about the same to the Election Commission while filing poll nomination papers. He was an MP from the Amethi and later Raebareli Lok Sabha seats, the two seats preferred by the Gandhi family.
There was another trust named JZ II Trust that was incorporated in October 2015 when Sharma was a Congress Rajya Sabha member. The investigation by the Indian Express found Sharma to be the protector of the two aforementioned trusts and his wife Sterre listed as a beneficiary under them.
The list of beneficiaries of the Jan Zegers Trust as mentioned by a document from August 2014 includes Satish Sharma (protector), Henriette Jeanette Zegers Ten Horn, Sterre Candida Maria Sharma Zegers, Mei Celesta Regina Zegers, Engelien Felicia Gabrielle Zegers, Samir Sharma, Sarika Sharma, Patrick Brenny, Paul McGowan and the Kalakar Trust.
It is worth noting that the Delhi address listed by The Kalakar Trust is a property owned by Sharma’s wife Sterre, according to an affidavit filed with his Rajya Sabha nomination in 2010.
In his declarations during nominations for his Rajya Sabha elections in 2004 and 2010, there was no mention of any other immovable property outside India save for Sterre’s “inherited house” in Amsterdam.
Jan Zegers Trust and underlying companies dissolved to be replaced by JZ II Trust and other set of underlying companies
Sharma’s network of offshore companies was revealed through a document belonging to the AsiaCiti Trust. It said the Jan Zegers Trust and its underlying companies—Dansor SARL (Luxembourg), Anenice Limited (UK), and Lomond Investments Limited (Cayman Islands) —was later dissolved and replaced by Univest Capital Limited (Samoa); JZ II Trust and its underlying companies, Univest Capital Limited (Samoa) and Fortune Skyline Limited (British Virgin Islands).
Sharma gave his “consent” to pay EUR 0.9799 million, USD 0.1885 million, and 2 lakh Singapore dollars to various entities through some third party accounts, the report said while citing documents.
About Rs 4.28 crore were to be funnelled in several batches to Sterre Sharma via Kul Rattan Chadha in his account at the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Vasant Vihar, Delhi branch. Notably, Chadha was named in the Panama Papers and lives in Amsterdam. He has also signed as “witness” on requisite documents at the time when Jan Zegers Trust was formed in 1995.
The Indian Express report mentioned that remittances paid to Sterre Sharma were classified as ‘high risk’ with specifically mentioning that she is married to “an Indian politician Satish Sharma”.
Captain Satish Sharma’s wife denies any wrongdoing
Sterre, Sharma’s widow, repudiated claims of any wrongdoing and asserted that the trusts were incorporated by her father as Settlor, as a mechanism to manage his assets and distribute his inheritance to the beneficiaries, which included his wife, children, their wives, husbands, widows and widowers of the issue of the settlor and his wife and the Kalakar Trust in New Delhi.
When asked why Jan Zegers II trust was incorporated after dissolving the first one, Sterre said it was done to help liquidate the trust assets to pay French taxes on trust property, whose tax demand far surpassed the value of the trust property.
She said the family settlement made to pay French taxes is yet to come and once it arrives, she will pay the due taxes on them. She also said that her late husband owned no assets abroad and that trustees were strictly mandated to carry out all regulatory compliances.
“Late Mr Satish Sharma was made a Protector of the Trust, who could act in place of Settlor(my late father), in case Settlor is not living (died) or was under a disability or incompetency to provide continuity. For all purposes heirs of my late father were beneficiaries and all powers and control vested in my late father….,” said Sterre in her response to the Indian Express.
She further added that she had declared the Trust in her IT returns since 2016-2017, claiming that final French tax claims have been settled only in this year and once the family settlement arrives, she would pay whatever tax due in each jurisdiction.
“Companies are formed solely to manage assets under the trust which holds inheritance of my late father and are to be duly wound up with the Trust. None of my family members or myself to my understanding have any role in these companies,” Sterre said.
