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Cambridge Analytica’s India arm has never filed financial returns

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Cambridge Analytica’s India arm has never filed  financial returnsCambridge Analytica’s parent company SCL Group’s India arm, SCL India, has not filed a single financial return since its inception on November 16, 2011, a gross violation under Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) rules that can lead to imprisonment and prosecution of company directors besides hefty penalties and freezing of accounts.

SCL India directors Amrish Tyagi, Alexander James Ashburner Nix (the currently suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica), Alexander Waddington Oakes and Avneesh Kumar Rai have been disqualified as a result and figure in MCA’s state wise list of disqualified directors, though the company remains active.

“Under Section 164 of the Companies Act, 2017, directors get disqualified if their companies have not filed financial returns for three years. They also become ineligible to become directors for the subsequent five years in any other company. The companies also get struck off after a show-cause notice from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). It could be a matter of chance that a company is still reflected as ‘active’,” said Sakshi Dureja, director, corporate legal and secretarial, at Ashok Maheshwary & Associates.

SCL India describes itself as being involved in market research, public opinion polling, besides legal, accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities and tax, business and management consultancy.

The company is a joint venture between SCL UK and Ovleno Business Intelligence Pvt Ltd, the firm of Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi’s son Amrish Tyagi. Ovleno Business Intelligence was formed in January 2010 and its board of directors includes Amrish Tyagi and Sharad Tyagi. It describes itself as a research and strategy agency specialising in data management and behavioural change communication campaigns for political, commercial and social clients. Ovleno counts among its clients BJP, Congress and JD(U).

Its other offerings include election campaign management, mobile media management, and social media management. The company’s website has been taken down following the controversy. It reported revenues of around Rs 9.32 lakh in 2012. Amrish Tyagi could not be reached for comment.

SCL India is in the spotlight following whistleblower Christopher Wylie’s disclosures that the firm managed campaigns of a number of candidates in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Wylie has claimed the firm also handled election work in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar for various clients between 2003 and 2012. He has also said that SCL India carried out a caste census in UP in 2012 on behalf of a national party aimed at identifying the party’s core supporters and swing voters.

Cambridge Analytica had not responded to ET’s email until the time of going to press. In a statement issued on March 27, Cambridge Analytica said Wylie was a part-time contractor who left in July 2014 and has no direct knowledge of its work or practices.



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