In Panama cases where tax is due, ₹729 cr ‘income’ identified

NEW DELHI: The tax department has identified ₹792 crore as undisclosed amount on which tax is due following its investigation into the Panama Papers.

The Panama leaks had “exposed” 426 people who are Indians or of Indian origin. Of these, the department said that 279 cases are ‘non-actionable’ —which means there are either no irregularities or the case pertains to non-indian residents.

“The remaining 147 cases are being probed,” said Sushil Chandra, chairman of the tax board.

Taxmen have already carried out searches and surveys in 46 cases; in 7 cases, notices have been issued under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, for routing illegal money to acquire foreign assets, the department said.

It added the probe was still on, and 395 references have been made to 28 nations for details on assets held by Indians there.

Exposed by the international consortium of investigative journalists in April 2016, the Panama Papers, as they are popularly called, refers to the dealings of a Panamian firm Mossak Fonseca in routing allegedly ill-gotten money of the world’s rich and famous to off-shore entities.

Following the expose, a multi agency group comprising the tax department, RBI, enforcement directorate and financial intelligence unit was set up to investigate the findings. The names included those of Amitabh Bachchan, industrialists such as Indiabulls’ Sameer Gehlaut and world leaders like Nawaz Sharif.