Insightful newsletter of Drishtikone: Issue #210 - Exposing Punjabi Entertainment Industry
(Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay)
“I think the difference between a lie and a story is that a story utilizes the trappings and appearance of truth for the interest of the listener as well as of the teller. A story has in it neither gain nor loss. But a lie is a device for profit or escape. I suppose if that definition is strictly held to, then a writer of stories is a liar - if he is financially fortunate.” ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden
In an era of no flights, buses, or trains, a committed and intense young man left his wife and two sons in the village and traveled on foot or ponies to Mecca, Gujarat, Tashkent, Nepal, Assam, and Sri Lanka. His work - to wake people up. Fashioning god into a belief system and just memorizing books would not get one to full awareness. Sadhana, actual spiritual work in guidance of a Guru would. That was his life’s commitment.
No book on the planet could take one through the rigors of spiritual work. Doesn’t matter who wrote it and how deeply profound it is. For, every book is restricted by the curse of interpretation of the reader. It is as profound or useless as the reader is. If you are an unaware life, the book with the greatest exposition of truth will be rendered trite.
Nanak, the profound, intense, committed being that he was, left a spiritual legacy. A path that worked within the context of those times.
When spiritual legacies come down as a tradition and hearsay, as opposed to initiation by a Master, they become weapons of identity enforcement. Those who swore by Nanak also started swearing by a book being the Guru. Whatever Nanak had worked for was negated. The minds who twisted Nanak’s legacy to trash his spiritual work, have worked hard to join hands with anyone to establish an identity that no Guru ever shared. That has meant killings, bombings, murders, crimes and lies.
But that is the lure of identity. It can cook up extremely pedestrian treatise and arguments to twist the most profound works at the cost of human life and well-being.
Britain - the financial crime capital
Britain is the hotbed of corporate fraud. No, not the British Virgin Islands or some exotic tax haven locations. But the main Britain. The United Kingdom. London for example. (Source) Oliver Bullough writes a step-wise guide to money-laundering in the UK. As he says - “Dirty money needs laundering if it’s to be of any use – and the UK is the best place in the world to do it.”
This is where the UK comes in. When it comes to financial crime, Britain is your best friend. Here is the secret you need to know to get started in the shell company game: the British company registration system contains a giant loophole – the kind of loophole you can drive a billion euros through without touching the sides. That is why UK shell companies have enabled financial crime all over the world, from giant acts of kleptocratic plunder to sad and squalid frauds that rob pensioners of their retirement savings. (Source)
So here is how it can be done.
Step 1 is to create a company on the Companies House website. Setting up a company costs £12 and takes less than 24 hours.
Companies House maintains the UK’s registry of corporate structures and publishes information on shareholders, directors, accounts, partners and so on, so anyone can check up on their bona fides.
Step 2 is to name the individual who owns the company. It is mandatory to name the individual who actually owns it: “the person with significant control”, or PSC. Makes it tricky right? Naah. As Bullough clarifies
In theory, the introduction of the PSC rule should have prevented the use of a British shell company to anonymously commit financial crime. Don’t worry though, because it didn’t. Here is the secret: no one checks the accuracy of the information you provide when you register with Companies House. You can say pretty much anything and Companies House will accept it.
How sweet is that! What? You don’t believe that? Well Oliver did his checking before he came up with that secret, didn’t he?
Recently, while messing about on the Companies House website, I came across a PSC named Mr Xxx Stalin, who is apparently a Frenchman resident in east London. It is perhaps technically possible that Xxx is a genuine name given to Mr Stalin by eccentric parents – but, if so, such eccentric parents are remarkably widespread. Xxx Stalin led me to a PSC of a different company, who was named Mr Kwan Xxx, a Kazakh citizen, resident in Germany; then to Xxx Raven; to Miss Tracy Dean Xxx; to Jet Xxx; and finally to (their distant cousin?) Mr Xxxx Xxx. These rabbitholes are curiously engrossing, and before long I’d found Mr Mmmmmmm Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, and Mr Mmmmmm Xxxxxxxxxxx (correspondence address: Mmmmmmm, Mmmmmm, Mmm, MMM), at which point I decided to stop.
So, now that you are Mr. Mmmmmmm or Mrs. Yyyyyyyyy, you are ready to rock and roll in the world of financial crime!
Oh, but is it that easy? Apparently yes.
This Reuters article explains how the loopholes and the complete lack of due diligence in the UK are used by money launderers to move dirty money around without any trace.
At least 12 of the LLPs formed that day received millions of dollars between 2006 and 2008 while filing regulatory statements saying they were dormant, according to corporate records and the bank data reviewed by Reuters. It was not possible to identify who made the payments. More than $112 million was paid into a Latvian bank account in the name of Starion Overseas between March 2007 and June 2008, with most of the money coming from a bank account in Moscow. Such a large sum would normally require an LLP to file full accounts with Companies House, which maintains and publishes corporate filings in the UK. However, Starion Overseas submitted statements saying it was dormant during this entire period. Starion Overseas was dissolved in 2010 and could not be contacted for comment. (Source)
Do you see that word called “Dormant”? Interesting isn’t it? Now, hold onto that thought. We will go into the wonderful world of Punjabi music and movies.
You see it is not as if people are doing some strange things to subvert the British system. Rather, the British system is custom made for financial crime!
Is the Punjabi music industry using Financial-fraud-friendly laws for money laundering?
The world of Punjabi music and movies is dominated by a few individuals, who have shot up in the last few years. One of them is Dinesh Auluck.
Dinesh Auluck was the man who managed singer Jazzy B’s career when the singer first came to India to launch his album Folk ‘N’ Funky. In 2000, while finding distributers for Jazzy’s new album, he thought of establishing his own music label. He co-founded Speed Records with his friends, after which they moved on to producing movies with Record Studios. (Source)
Speed Records is the company that has made the biggest gains. Satwinder Singh alias Sonu explains about Speed Records.
Speed group is a complete entertainment platform that provides music, films, live shows, artist management, etc. But despite our presence in all these spheres, we feel that we are still strugglers and try to do something new every day. At the same time, we’re happy to share that we are the biggest YouTube channel providing Punjabi music. With 2.58 crore YouTube subscribers, we have the maximum Punjabi content. If we add numbers of other small channels such as Speed Punjabi etc, have a subscriber base of over 3 crores. We can proudly say that we are the number one Punjabi music content provider in the entire world. Every year we release songs of around 40 to 50 artists, out of which 10-12 are new artists. We release 200 to 250 songs in a year – out of which 150 songs have music videos. (Source)
That’s very impressive indeed!
They have and are working with the whos-who of Punjabi music.
We manage around 16 artists – from their live shows to brand endorsements, movie business to advertisements, digital presence, and shows which include MTV Unplugged, Imperial Blue Super Hit Nights, Tinder, and many more. With over 200 artists associated with our brand, we have worked with the finest talent such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Gurdas Maan, Hans Raj Hans, Babbu Maan, Diljit Dosanjh, Gippy Grewal, Honey Singh, Guru Randhawa etc. (Source)
Then they must be having company accounts showing a tremendously successful and amazingly profitable company?
Well, not really. Here is the complete empire of the companies floated and dissolved by folks who are all related to each other. (You can get all this information from the “Companies House” site)
The central kingpin is Sundip Singh Khakh. And also Dinesh Auluck. But the biggest company in the Punjabi industry was dissolved after it was dormant! Aah, remember that?
It is strange isn’t it - that an organization that made it big with its Collaboration Album in 2006 featuring the greatest Punjabi singers in India and Pakistan - Sukhshinder Shinda, Gurdas Maan, Abrar Ul Haq, Jazzy B, etc - had a dormant flagship? And, even that was dissolved in 2014! Only to start it back again in 2020 with the same name, while its other variants were floating around.
The promoter of these “Shell Companies” - as Oliver calls them - Sundip Singh Khakh, was also involved in another company called Famous Std Ltd.
One of the two officers of Famous Std Ltd was “Daljit Singh” born in January 1984. (Source). Is he Diljit Singh Dosanjh? Any guesses?
It is obvious that things just don’t add up!
Now, these are the companies where these Punjabi smart alecks have used their actual names, while they play musical chairs with their companies. For all you know, a certain Daljit could have been passed off as Mr. Ddddddd or Dinesh as Mr Zzzzzz in another set of shell companies titled “Khaleesitanian” or some such company to do some more colorful stuff. The options provided by the official British financial fraud industry are numerous.
NOTE: Here is the thread by Vijay Patel, where he shared the information on these companies. We dug further and created the list as well as how the whole process works.
You may also want to check out the information on Quora on this. (Source)
Punju entertainers, so-called “farmer protests” and Khalistan
Now, most of the singers who are being promoted by this company Speed Records - like Jazzy B and the new female singer Kaur B are Khalistani sympathizers.
Check out Jazzy B/ He is one of the Punjabi celebrities who stands by Khalistani terror ideals. Watch this song.
Kaur B is no different. From love for Bhindranwale to support of Khalsa Aid, the front for Babbar Khalsa, she checks every red flag.
Yeah, and of course the “Farmer’s protest” as well.
Anti-national Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi, like always is betting against India. As are his supporters. And, these guys don’t give a rat’s arse if their statements or utterances hurt India’s diplomatic relations with other countries. Like this one about the postponement of the annual summit between India and Russia. He retweets an article based on conjectures which are ill-formed and with no official checking.
Once again, as in the case of Rafale when the French government gave an official statement, here too, the Russian government had to officially give a clarification.
And then some self-delusional idiots ask how can opposition to the Modi government become anti-India? These idiots are not anti-India because they are against Modi. They have worked very hard for their status. At least give them their due!
market corner - 10 quick bytes
- EU and UK clinch narrow Brexit accord - more
- Private equity investment in real estate likely to bounce back to $6 bn in 2021 (a 30% year-on-year growth) - more
- DTH licenses will now be issued for 20 years instead of 10 years, as is the norm now, and maybe renewed for 10 years at a time. The license fee which has been revised from 10% of gross revenue to 8% of AGR will be collected on a quarterly basis - more
- Fresher hiring gathers pace; up 55% since September-end - more
- ED attaches assets worth Rs 4,109 crore in Agri Gold Ponzi scheme case - more
- Businesses with a monthly turnover of over Rs 50 lakh to pay at least 1% GST liability in cash - more
- The number of trainees entering the Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP), among key schemes by the Modi government to promote entrepreneurship in India, has seen a jump of 378 percent in 2020 - more
- Economy well placed to capitalize on the recovery in 2021, says K V Kamath - more
- US regulator allows Mahindra to sell the new Roxor, says it no longer infringes Jeep's design - more
- Predictions on Mumbai Real estate in 2021 - more
nota bene
New Strain will cause more deaths: The mutated coronavirus strain that’s been spreading in the U.K. appears to be more contagious and will likely lead to higher levels of hospitalizations and deaths next year, a new study showed. The variant is 56% more transmissible than other strains, according to the study by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. (Source)
Crime falls in Gurugram this year: Despite the lockdown in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Gurugram police have recorded a reduction in crime of only around 37 per cent till December 23, 2020. This was by official crime data released by the city police on Wednesday. This year 3,889 cases of murder, dacoity, house theft, simple theft, fighting/snatching and vehicle theft were registered as against 6,161 cases reported in 2019, as per the police data. (Source)
Priorities?!: The Maharashtra State Excise Department has seized duplicate liquor worth Rs 1 crore in the past one week. Officers said the liquor was being smuggled for Christmas and New Year parties. Duplicate liquor? Is that what the Maharashtra state police is after during the New Year?! (Source)
NCOE Aurangabad investment: The Union sports ministry has decided to allot a fund of Rs 5 crore for advanced equipment at the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE), Aurangabad, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has said. "The Central government has allotted NCOEs in various parts of the country, but not all states have received such centers. Maharashtra is the only state to have such centers in three cities -- Mumbai, Aurangabad, and Nagpur. The seven disciplines of sports will be focussed in this center," Rijiju said at the inauguration function. (Source)
How Indian banks changed overnight: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ICICI bank, HDFC Bank, and State Bank of India (SBI) are the three banks that transformed themselves almost overnight to serve their account holders (customers) this year. In doing so, they also trumped their newer counterparts including Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, according to the BFSI Movers and Shakers 2020 Report by Wizikey. (Source)
demonizing the other
Predatory belief systems are deliberately infused with some moral high ground elements to enable the violence that is inherently embedded in such systems to be unleashed without challenge.
Early Christians mastered this art. Jesus was a nice mascot who was given a heart-rending story and based on that, those who wanted control of any land would spin their violent greed as a favor on those silly idiots, devil-worshippers, and demonic people to create a greater number of slaves who were sworn to the god of the conqueror. So that there was a ready acceptance of slavery at a very deep level.
This extract of discussion with statements from Catherine Nixey, writer of the seminal book on Christian destruction of the Greco-Roman civilization “The Darkening Age” and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian author is very instructive.
Theodosian Code is the most important document of Christian emergence as a political force. And it declared Jews and Pagans as heretics, devil-worshippers, and possessed by demons and gave sanction to subjugate and persecute them without any remorse. (Source) Rather as an obligation to Jesus. Wole discusses how the Christians looked for an African “Satan” that wasn’t. So they rejigged a local deity and messed up the local folk, traditions, structures to create opposite forces to push their religious agenda.
For those who persecuted others, a singular belief in only one entity as a god, and corresponding demonizing of all others was the sine qua non. And, this fetish took the most dangerous and lethal turn (in terms of destruction to mankind) with the birth of Christianity. Prior to that, the belief was a personal enterprise. With Christianity, it took on a global imperialist role.
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