Panama Papers: All unlawful financial holdings abroad will face action, says FM Jaitley

New Delhi: Welcoming the disclosure made by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonesca, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that all unlawful financial holdings abroad will face action.

Jaitley further said that on Prime Minister's advice, multi-agency group including CBDT and RBI has been set up to monitor disclosures and act upon them.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money said it will investigate thoroughly the reported secret list of about 500 prominent Indians including actors, politicians and businessmen who have allegedly stashed money in offshore entities in tax haven Panama.

 

"Investigations are being carried out. We are going to investigate it (the list) thoroughly," SIT Chairman Justice (retd) M B Shah told PTI.

Asked if the SIT had any information on these names, he said the panel got it on Monday.

Here, more than 11 million documents from the secret files of the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonesca are being referred to as Panama Papers. These are secretdocuments of firms belongings to global and Indian power-figures parking money in the tax haven.

Panama is deemed as a tax haven of well-heeled living across the globe, who set up offshore companies and get benefits of the secretive, tax regulatory system in the country offered to these firms.

In a shocking revelation, around 140 political figures, including 12 current or former heads of state, Indian celebritiesare named in the list.

 

As per The Indian Express, among over 500 Indians are the big names like actor Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Realtor, KP Singh, Indiabulls owner Sameer Gehlaut, Mumbai ganglord the late Iqbal Mirchi, Vinod Adani-brother of Gautam Adani, etc.

Though it is not clear who leaked the list of the Panama-based firm to the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, who shared it with media worldwide by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

 

As per ICIJ, most of the alleged dealings are likely to be legal.

However, just the appearance of names in something that has to do with the hidden wealth in tax havens may create quite a din.