Pandora Papers: Legendary Cricketer Tendulkar's Firm Denies Wrongdoing in Hiding Wealth

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's record as a cricketer is enviably unblemished. However, his activities off the cricket pitch have raised a few eyebrows, with his plea to the BJP government in 2002 for import duty on his Ferrari to be waived being one of the most infamous sagas of his life.

A day after legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's name was revealed in the Pandora Papers, a top official linked to his firm has denied any wrongdoing by the retired cricketer.

"The referenced investment by Mr Tendulkar has been made by him from his tax-paid funds under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and has been duly accounted for and declared in his tax returns," Mrinmoy Mukherjee, the chief executive and director of the Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, told Indian media on Monday.

"We reiterate that the investment by Mr Tendulkar has been made legitimately through banking channels from India and has been declared to the income tax authorities."

Further, the amount of INR600 million (approximately $8.1 million) "quoted by [the media] is grossly incorrect. Regardless of this fact, all amounts received by Mr Tendulkar on liquidation of the investment have also been declared in his tax return," Mukherjee added.

The clarification has come in the wake of a massive controversy that erupted in India after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) named cricket star Tendulkar in its list of celebrities who have hidden their investments in offshore entities.

How the Cricketer Has been Linked in Pandora Papers

According to the ICIJ report, dubbed the "Pandora Papers", that was published by the Indian Express, Sachin, his wife Anjali Tendulkar and father-in-law Anand Mehta are Beneficial Owners and Directors of a British Virgin Islands-based company called Saas International Limited.

The first time Sachin's offshore company Saas appears in the Pandora Papers is as early as 2007. However, extensive details about the owners and the directors, including the financial benefits they enjoyed, is only available from 2016 after the organisation was liquidated.

When the company was liquidated in 2016, Sachin, Anjali and Mehta bought back shares at a staggering price: Sachin's nine-share purchase was $856,702, Anjali's 14 shares cost $1,375,714 and Mehta's five shares went to him for $453,082, making each share worth an average of almost $96,000.

The company was formed in 2007, and 90 shares were issued to the shareholders, which subsequently Tendulkar, his wife and father-in-law had to buy back after seven years.

Anjali got the first 60 shares and then her father bought the second tranche of 30 shares.

The value of these 90 shares was said to be around $8 million by the time the company was liquidated.

This is the first time the Mumbai-based superstar, who hung up his boots in 2013, has been embroiled in a tax evasion controversy. He is considered to be the richest cricketer in the world and is worth an estimated $135 million.