Nearly 2,000 Indian firms offshore in latest edition of Panama Papers

New Delhi: Nearly 2,000 individuals, entities and addresses with links to India figure in the latest edition of Panama Papers, that give information on offshore holding of companies in tax havens.

A random check of the database for India displays about 22 offshore entities, 1,046 officers or individual links, 42 intermediaries and as many as 828 addresses within the country.

“The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists publishes today a searchable database that strips away the secrecy of nearly 2,14,000 offshore entities created in 21 jurisdictions, from Nevada to Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands,” the ICIJ 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,” the consortium said.

The global body that brought out last month the first edition of the ‘Panama Papers’, by way of secret offshore data sourced from a Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, said the information about a particular country could have “duplicates” as it reiterated that “there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts.”

Panama papers (Infographics)

“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,” the body said on its web portal as part of the disclaimer on the release of the offshore “leaks” database.

Names and addresses put up on the website of the body not only shows identities of some individuals and addresses along with description of the companies held but also specifies the date of incorporation of the firms in some cases. The database has around 30,000 documents listed with India links.

ICIJ said it was releasing the additional details on names and addresses in “public interest” and also to “find out who’s behind almost 3,20,000 offshore companies and trusts from the Panama Papers and the offshore leaks investigations.”

The group 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 worlds top creators of hard-to-trace companies, trusts and foundations.

“ICIJ is not publishing the totality of the leak, and it is not disclosing raw documents or personal information en masse. The database contains a great deal of information about company owners, proxies and intermediaries in secrecy jurisdictions, but it doesn’t disclose bank accounts, email exchanges and financial transactions contained in the documents.

Elsewhere, 65 Lankans, including Nissanka Senadhipathi, a businessman having links to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa figured in the new edition of Panama Papers.

World leaders, NGOs and financial institutions gather in London on Thursday for an anti-corruption summit that host Prime Minister David Cameron has said will spur new global action in the wake of the Panama Papers leaks.

About 40 countries have been invited alongside the World Bank and the IMF, with the presidents of Afghanistan, Colombia and Nigeria and US Secretary of State John Kerry among those due to attend.

Campaigners are hoping for action in response to public outrage over the revelations in the Panama Papers of how the rich hide their money.

They want governments to expose the beneficiaries of anonymous companies used to move money without detection, and take action to reduce the secrecy of offshore tax havens where they are incorporated.