PANAMA 2 LAST

The Income Tax department had earlier sent a detailed The Income Tax department had earlier sent a detailedquestionnaire to a number of individuals and entities figuringin the list of those allegedly holding offshore assets in taxhavens and is vetting their response. About 500 Indians figure in the list which includesprominent businessmen, film celebrities and those belonging tolucrative professions. The government has created a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) ofprobe agencies to go into these cases, comprising the ITdepartment (CBDT), its foreign tax wing, the RBI, FinancialIntelligence Unit and the Enforcement Directorate. The names were released by the International Consortiumof Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). While releasing the list, the ICIJ had added a disclaimerthat there are also "legitimate uses for offshore companies". The ‘Panama Papers’ leaks contain an unprecedented amountof information running into more than 11 million documentscovering 2,10,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions. Each transaction spans different jurisdictions and mayinvolve multiple entities and individuals. PTI NES SKDIP