Govt committed to strict probe into Panama leaks: Jayant Sinha
Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha on Monday said strict action is being taken and strict investigation is going on
New Delhi: The government on Monday said strict investigation would be carried out to find if there was irregularity in the process in cases where leaked documents suggest that 500 Indians floated companies and trusts in Panama.
“Whether you take the ‘Panama Papers’ or the HSBC list or whatever other information we get... For all this information, we are first looking at whether it is legal activity or illegal activity,” minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha said adding strict action is being taken and strict investigation is going on.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of state finance secretaries here on Monday.
The government has constituted a multi-agency group comprising representatives of central board of direct taxes (CBDT), financial intelligence unit (FIU) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to scrutinise the ‘Panama Papers’.
Sinha also said various financial institutions, banks and investigative agencies are making efforts to make willful defaulters of bank loans to pay up.
While bad loans of banks have been rising for more than five years, it has become a political issue embarrassing the government when former promoter of Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya left India after banks applied pressure to get back Rs 9,000 crore he owed to them.
According to data, there are about 7,686 willful defaulters who owe Rs 66,190 crore to public sector banks. Of these, suits have been filed in 6,816 cases and FIR has been lodged 1,669 cases.