Multi-agency panel to probe Paradise Papers revelations

A TOTAL OF 714 INDIANS, INCLUDING POLITICIANS, INDUSTRIALISTS AND CELEBRITIES, FIGURE IN THE DOCUMENTS THAT FOCUS ON THEIR ALLEGED OFFSHORE INVESTMENTS

NEW DELHI: A joint panel of India’s top tax and financial crimes agencies will investigate leaked financial documents that allegedly show offshore dealings of hundreds of Indians, the country’s tax chief said on Monday.

The so-called “Paradise Papers”, released on Sunday by a collective of international journalists who pored over it for months, run into more than 13 million records and internal communications obtained from Bermuda-based offshore law firm Appleby and Singapore’s Asiaciti, a business consulting company.

More than 700 Indians, including politicians, industrialists and celebrities, figure in the documents that focus on their alleged off-shore investments and operations.

A multi-agency group — comprising taxmen and officers of the Enforcement Directorate, Financial Intelligence Unit and Reserve Bank of India — will investigate the Paradise Papers.

“We will match the information in the Paradise Papers to ascertain cases of tax evasion,” said Sushil Chandra, chief of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) who will head the multiagency group.

Shortly after, the CBDT said in a statement that its Investigation units had already been alerted.

“As soon as further information surfaces, swift action as per law will follow,” it said.

The multi-agency group is already investigating the “Panama Papers”, a trail of millions of secret files that leaked the names of individuals who paid law firm Mossack Fonseca to set up offshore firms in tax havens around the world.