In December 2016, Lt General (retired) Rakesh Kumar Loomba registered Rarint Partners Ltd in Seychelles along with son Rahul Loomba.
Without mentioning his military credentials while doing so, a top former Army officer incorporated a Seychelles International Business Company (IBC) shortly after the 2016 release of the Panama Papers shone the spotlight on secret global money flows, an investigation of records of Pandora Papers by The Indian Express reveals.
In December 2016, Lt General (retired) Rakesh Kumar Loomba registered Rarint Partners Ltd in Seychelles along with son Rahul Loomba.
When he retired in 2010, Lt Gen Loomba held the sensitive post of Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI). Prior to that, he was the General Officer Commanding of 3 Corps.
An investigation by The Indian Express of secret records of Aabol, an offshore service provider based in Mahe, Seychelles, part of the Pandora Papers, reveals that Loomba’s company had a linked bank account with Mauritius ABC Banking Corporation, where father and son, as Directors of Rarint Partners Ltd, pegged the company’s “expected’’ annual deposit/turnover as $1 million.
The initial deposit in the account, also opened in December 2016, was $100,000 and the “expected’’ annual expenses of the Seychelles company, which the bank account opening form states would be engaged in “consultancy,” was estimated at $500,000.
Signatures of the three linked to the Seychelles firm.
Besides the Loomba duo, the third Director of Rarint Partners Ltd is Anant Ghyanashyam, a resident of Vasant Vihar, New Delhi.
All three are named as first Directors and Beneficiary Owners (BOs) of the company.
While Ghyanashyam has 34% shareholding in the company, Lt Gen Rakesh Kumar Loomba and Rahul Loomba have 33% each. All three have signed the company opening and the Mauritius bank-account opening forms.
The residential address of the Loombas, in an upscale apartment complex in Gurugram, figures at several places in the data.
According to the Memorandum of Association of Rarint Partners, the authorized capital of the company was $100,000 which consists of 1,000,000 shares of 10 cents ($0.10) each.
Records show that at the time of its inception, on December 1, 2016, a resolution was passed by the three Directors that all records of Rarint Partners Ltd would be maintained at an address in Paschim Vihar, New Delhi.
This address, records investigated show, belongs to a company called Cerule Consulting.
The bank account opening documents are listed among the ones being dispatched in connection with Rarint Partners Ltd.
Contacted by The Indian Express, Rahul Loomba responded on behalf of himself and his father. He described the third shareholder, Anant Ghyanashyam, as his business partner.
“In 2016, we had conceived an idea of working in Southern Africa and went ahead in formulating a company in November 2016 and subsequently applying to open a Bank Account. However, the account with ABC Bank was never ever opened as we did not go ahead with our business plan. No payment was done for the subsequent years for the company license fees. Thereafter, in 2017, we were informed by our advisor that the company will be struck off. It is amply clear that there was neither any business nor any contract ever conducted in the said company, and therefore no question of even opening a Bank Account.”
He added: “Not only were we never asked about the rank or designation but more importantly, it was also not brought up by us, as officially, rank of a military or police person is never shared for security reasons, on private or business visit, unless the officer is part of an official delegation.’’
Loomba added that the bank had confirmed to him that Rarint Partners “did not have an account with the bank.”
This despite the fact that records show several invoices, such for incorporation of Rarint Partners Ltd. ($415), and for processing the bank account opening application ($345), have been sent by Aabol to one Vineet Agarwal at the Paschim Vihar address.
Besides Rarint Partners, Rakesh Kumar Loomba is also a Director with several other Indian companies and foundations.
According to Registrar of Companies (RoC) records, these are: BBV International Private Limited; Defence Welfare Housing Association; Pravasindian Foundation; Sainik Infrastructure India Limited; Indo Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Samaj Pidit Sewa Charitable Foundation and Jan Kalyan Samvad Foundation.
