From Amitabh Bachchan to Vijay Mallya, how Paradise Papers is giving sleepless nights to 714 Indians

The government on Monday launched an investigation, spearheaded by the income tax department, into offshore assets and bank accounts of over 700 Indian individuals and entities disclosed in the Paradise Papers released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The Indian names include Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, film star Sanjay Dutt's wife Dilnashin, now known as Manyata, Union minister Jayant Sinha and Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha.

The Indian names also included those associated with the Sun-TV-Aircel-Maxis case, Essar-Loop 2G case, SNCLavalin in which Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was named and then cleared, and a case against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy; as also entities linked to Rajasthan ambulance scam that names an entity called Ziquista Healthcare (with Congress leader Sachin Pilot and former minister P Chidambaram's son Karti as early honorary/independent directors).

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced that the multi-agency group probing the Panama Papers leak will also monitor the investigations on the Paradise Papers on financial holdings abroad. It said the investigation units of the income tax department across the country have been alerted to take note of the disclosures for immediate action.

In all, 714 Indian entities and individuals figure in the list. The Paradise Papers include nearly seven million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from inside Appleby, a well-known offshore law firm with headquarters in Bermuda.

ICIJ worked with 95 media partners globally for the investigation. The leaked documents include files from smaller, family-owned trust company Asiaciti (Singapore), and from company registries in 19 secrecy jurisdictions. However, at the same time, the mention of names in the list does not mean that such entities have generated tainted money or evaded taxes, the body said.

CBDT, which is the apex policy-making body for the I-T department, said investigation in many cases of offshore entities is already on the fast track. As soon as further information surfaces, swift action as per law will follow, it added.

CBDT said the government has directed that investigation in cases of Paradise Papers will be monitored by a reconstituted multi-agency group (MAG), which is headed by the CBDT chairman and has representatives from the tax body, Enforcement Directorate, RBI and Financial Intelligence Unit.

The panel will first go through details of income tax returns filed by the 714 Indian individuals and entities named in the Paradise Papers and subsequently take action, on a case-to-case basis, official sources said.

However, the CBDT said it is still to receive full details of the latest disclosures. It said the names of only a few Indians have appeared so far in the media. The Paradise Papers relate to an investigation into offshore and banking assets of individuals and entities carried out by the Indian Express in collaboration with ICIJ. Even the ICIJ website has not yet released the names and other particulars of all entities, it said.

The ICIJ website suggests that information will be released in phases and structured data connected to the Paradise Papers investigation will be released only in the coming weeks on its offshore leaks database, a CBDT statement said.

A senior official said notices will be issued once complicity of an individual or entity is established in these cases. The CBDT said revelations made on Monday in the media indicate that out of 180 countries represented in the data of offshore entities held by people of different nationalities, India ranks 19th in terms of number of names.

Sun Group, founded by Nand Lal Khemka, figured as Appleby's second largest client with as many as 118 offshore entities.