Notices to all those named in Panama Papers: Govt

New Delhi, Apr 29,2016: Government today said in the Lok Sabha that it has issued notices to all the people named in the Panama Papers but tax laws do not allow the proceedings to be made public till cases are filed in courts.

Responding to questions on tax evasion and black money, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Panama Papers leak case, notices have been issued to all those whose names have appeared.

The minister explained that Section 138 of the Income Tax Act bars the proceedings of a case be made public till a case is filed in a court.

Meanwhile, responding to another supplementary, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said the government is looking into papers received from HSBC and Panama and the various laws, including the one on foreign black money, are being invoked.

Acting on the Panama Papers leak, the Income Tax department has sent a detailed questionnaire to about 50 individuals and entities figuring in the list of those allegedly holding offshore assets in tax havens, sources had earlier said.

@Agency report.