The government has launched a multi-agency probe into the leaked ‘Paradise Papers’ that link over 700 Indian corporates and individuals. These include Union minister Jayant Sinha, BJP lawmaker RK Sinha and movie icon Amitabh Bachchan with offshore firms floated in various tax havens.

“The investigation units of the income tax (I-T) department have been alerted to take note of the revelations for immediate appropriate action. It has been reported that many cases of offshore entities are already under investigation on the fast track. As soon as further information surfaces, swift action as per law will follow,” a finance ministry statement said.

Coming months after the Panama Papers expose, the Paradise Papers refer to leaks containing 13.4 million documents from two leading offshore finance specialists — Appleby and Asiaciti. While Appleby is a Bermuda-based legal service provider, Asiaciti operates out of Singapore, helping the wealthy and influential to set up entities in tax-friendly jurisdictions.

The Paradise Papers include nearly 7 million loan agreements, financial statements, e-mails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from inside Appleby.

The leaked documents include files from the smaller, family-owned trust company, Asiaciti, and from company registries in 19 secrecy jurisdictions.
Among the 180 countries represented in the data, India ranks 19th in terms of number of names (714), while Sun Group, founded by Nand Lal Khemka, figures as Appleby’s second largest client with as many as 118 offshore entities.

The revelation is part of the latest global expose by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) comprising 95 media organisations globally. The ICIJ said the Paradise Papers reveal the offshore activities of some of the world’s most powerful people and companies and the files were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Most of those whose names have figured in the expose denied any wrongdoing or tax evasion. In a series of tweets, Union minister Jayant Sinha said he had resigned from the offshore entity immediately after joining the prime minister Narendra Modi-led government. He added that all the transactions have been fully disclosed to relevant authorities through all necessary filings as required.

“On joining the Union council of ministers, I immediately resigned from the D.Light Board and severed my involvement with the company,” Sinha said in the tweet. The other ruling party lawmaker RK Sinha has also claimed that all disclosures had been made before the relevant authorities. But the opposition Congress has questioned the government’s effort so far on bringing back black money from overseas and demanded the resignation of the Sinha duo to ensure fair probe in the case.

Interestingly, film star Amitabh Bachchan wrote a long blog on Sunday, hours before the Paradise Papers were published, explaining that he has always cooperated with the ‘system,’ even though he did not directly refer to the latest leaks.

The Indian names on the list include a number of listed entities such as Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), Videocon and Essar Shipping, which saw their shares falling up to 2 per cent. Market regulator Sebi has said it would look into any wrongdoing on the part of such companies or their promoters with regard to alleged fund diversion and corporate governance lapses. The Indian names also included those associated with companies involved in the alleged 2G scam. The names of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and film star Sanjay Dutt’s wife Dilnashin also figure in the leaked documents.

In the wake of Monday’s massive expose, the rights group Transparency International has sought stricter measures to regulate the financial sector and their participants, including real estate brokers, lawyers and bankers.