SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — The latest results of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Monday found nearly 2,000 individuals, entities and addresses with links to India, exposing information on offshore holdings of companies in tax havens.
A random check of their database revealed links between India to 22 offshore entities, 1,046 officers or individual links, 42 intermediaries and as many as 828 addresses within the country. The links range from locations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to rural districts such as Haryana’s Sirsa, Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur and state capital Bhopal.
“The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists publishes today a searchable database that strips away the secrecy of nearly 214,000 offshore entities created in 21 jurisdictions, from Nevada to Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands,” the consortium said.
“The data, part of the Panama Papers investigation, is the largest ever release of information about offshore companies and the people behind them. This includes, when available, the names of the real owners of those opaque structures.”
However, the consortium, which last month released the first edition of secret documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, said information about a particular country could contain duplicates as “there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts” for some countries.
“We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly,” a statement on the consortium’s website read. They also said the “new data that ICIJ is now making public represents a fraction of the Panama Papers, a trove of more than 11.5 million leaked files from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world’s top creators of hard-to-trace companies, trusts and foundations.”
Names and addresses listed on the consortium’s website reveal not only the identity of some individuals and the corporations they held, but also specifies the date of incorporation of the firms in some cases.
The database revealed around 30,000 documents linked to India.
In response to the over 500 entities surfaced during last month’s release, India swiftly created a multifaceted group of investigative agencies such as the income tax department, FIU, RBI and foreign tax and tax research to conduct further reviews.
