The second list of Panama Papers has names of 2000 Indians in it

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has published new data regarding 'Panama Papers', which talks about detailed offshore holding of companies in various tax haven nations. Thousands of these documents can be traced to India, linked to around 2,000 Indian individuals, entities and addresses.

"The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) publishes today (Monday) 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 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," the consortium said in its latest message.

When randomly checked, the database displayed about 22 offshore entities, 1,046 officers or individual links, 42 intermediaries and as many as 828 addresses within India, right from metropolitan locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to mofussil locations of Sirsa, Muzaffarpur, Bhopal and Mandasaur.

However, the global body that brought out the first edition of the 'Panama Papers' has said that the information about a particular country could also have "duplicates.

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"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," said the disclaimer on the web portal.

In India, meanwhile, the first set of names last month has led to a Multi-Agency Group (MAG), which includes officers from various central investigative agencies like the Income Tax department, FIU, RBI and Foreign Tax and Tax Research (FT and TR) under the CBDT, apart from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which would review the probe in these cases.

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