In the latest update of the 'Panama Papers' controversy that shook the world in April, as many as 2,000 individuals, entities and addresses with links to India have been revealed. Indian database shows about 22 offshore entities, 1,046 officers, 42 intermediaries and over 828 addresses within the country. The links range from posh metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai to remote areas like Sirsa in Haryana, Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and other North Eastern states.
The Consortium of Investigative Journalists published a searchable database, calling out almost 2,14,000 offshore entities created in 21 different jurisdictions. “The data, part of the Panama Papers investigation, is the largest ever release of information about offshore companies and the people behind them. This includes, when available, the names of the real owners of those opaque structures,” said the consortium. It added, “We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly.”
In its action against the 500 entities that surfaced in the first list of names that was released last month, India created a multi-agency group comprising officers from various central investigative agencies like the income tax department, FIU, RBI and foreign tax and tax research under the Central Board of Direct Taxes apart from the special investigation team on black money. The names and addresses put on the website not only shows the identities of some individuals, but also specifies the date of incorporation of the firms in some cases. ICIJ said it was releasing these additional details on names and addresses in “public interest” and also to “find out who'd behind almost 3,20,000 offshore companies and trusts from the Panama Papers and the offshore leaks investigations.”
“ICIJ is not publishing the totality of the leak, and it is not disclosing raw documents or personal information en masse. The database contains a great deal of information about company owners, proxies and intermediaries in secrecy jurisdictions, but it doesn't disclose bank accounts, email exchanges and financial transactions contained in the documents. The leaked data covers nearly 40 years, from 1977 through the end of 2015,” it said.
