OVERSEAS TROUBLE?

CBDT said that investigation units of the Income Tax Department have been alerted to take note of revelations as they are published in coming days by ICIJ partners for immediate appropriate action.

Markets regulator Sebi said it will look into alleged fund diversion and corporate governance lapses at various listed firms and their promoters as exposed in the “Paradise Papers”.

The Paradise Papers documents include nearly 7 million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from inside Appleby, a prestigious offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda and beyond.

The files were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared with ICIJ. The new expose comes 18 months after Panama Papers.

ICIJ, however, put out a disclaimer that "there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts" and it does not "intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly".

ICIJ also said that many people and entities may have similar names and suggested that the identities of those named in the database should be confirmed based on addresses or other identifiable information.