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The fresh expose made in the media on Thursday over ‘Panama Paper leaks’ is being promptly looked into by the law enforcement agencies under the aegis of the Multi Agency Group (MAG) already in existence, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Thursday.
As per the standard operating procedures in place for investigating such cases, examining the information revealed in the media release with the disclosures made by the alleged persons in the annual returns of income filed, particularly in the foreign assets (FA) schedule, foreign remittance details, etc., will be undertaken expeditiously, followed by raising of relevant queries, an official release said.
Subsequently, investigations in appropriate cases would be carried out to bring them to a logical conclusion, the release added.
Follow-up action
The Panama Paper leaks were originally revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on April 4, 2016. On the same day, the Centre constituted the MAG, headed by the CBDT Chairman as its convener, comprising representatives of the Income-Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, Financial Intelligence Unit and the RBI
The Panama Paper leaks involving 426 persons have been investigated by the I-T Department and other member agencies of MAG.
Since the database released by ICIJ did not contain any financial details or details of beneficial ownership, these had to be sought from foreign jurisdictions under tax treaties in most cases. After thorough investigation, involving examination of the disclosures made in the ITRs, particularly the FA schedule, residential status, responses to questionnaires issued, responses received from foreign jurisdictions and details of foreign remittances made, 352 cases were found to be non-actionable.
In the 74 cases found actionable , invasive actions were taken in 62 cases with searches conducted in 50 cases, and surveys in 12 cases, leading to detection of undisclosed foreign investments of about ₹11,140 crore. In 16 cases, criminal prosecution complaints have been filed in jurisdictional courts, which are at various stages of hearing. In 32 cases, notices under section 10 of the Black Money Act have been issued.
The investigations conducted in the Panama Paper cases reflect the Centre’s continued focus on dealing with black money stashed abroad, said the release. The promptness in action is more than evident as most of the actionable cases have been effectively addressed, it added.
Though the investigating agencies faced problems of incomplete data and absence of financial information as well as not very prompt cooperation from other countries, the overall outcome has been very satisfactory.
The government would like to assure that the fresh series of Panama Papers information would also be effectively addressed within a reasonable time frame, the release added.
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