About
Ravindra Kishore Sinha, a former journalist also known as RK Sinha, is a member of the Indian Parliament’s upper house and the chairman of Hindustan Samachar, a news agency backed by an organization behind the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Sinha, who is considered one of India’s richest politicians, is also the founder of Security and Intelligence Services, SIS, a private security company with operations in India and Australia.In the data
Sinha is a minority shareholder and director of SIS Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of Security and Intelligence Services, registered in Malta in 2008. His wife, Rita Kishore Sinha, is also listed as a director. According to the prospectus of the Indian parent company, which is the country’s second-largest security provider, Sinha’s single share in the Malta subsidiary is owned by a holding company in the British Virgin Islands.
An affidavit he submitted to the Election Commission of India when he was nominated in 2014 does not mention his interest in the Malta company.
However, Sinha was listed as a shareholder and chairman of its parent company in a document submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India a few days before the parent company’s initial public offering at the end of July 2017. According to the filings, the company and its subsidiaries had 18 outstanding criminal proceedings and 27 open “taxation matters.” The Malta subsidiary is not mentioned in the proceedings. Sinha was named as one of the respondents in three criminal cases over alleged violations of labor laws, according to the filing, and in tax litigation involving one of the subsidiaries. After the recent IPO, his son, Rituraj, became SIS’s group managing director.
Response
Sinha said that he has “no direct interest” in SIS Asia Pacific Holdings and that he holds one share in the entity “on behalf” of SIS, “and not in my personal capacity.” For this reason, his 2014 declaration mentions only his interest in the parent group, Sinha told ICIJ and its partner The Indian Express.
Sinha added that he is a party in the criminal proceedings in his capacity of director, “and not because I have personally violated any law.” The civil proceeding in which he is a party relates to a dispute pertaining to “certain properties” and the matter is currently under judgment, he said.
