Panama Papers’ probe in progress: Indian govt

NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it had set up a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) to investigate the people whose names surfaced in Panama Papers as having overseas accounts and was taking the entire matter very seriously.

According to Indian media, a law officer told the Supreme Court bench that the MAG had already submitted five reports to the court-appointed SIT probing the black money stashed abroad.

The MAG consists of officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes, including its Member, Investigation, the Reserve Bank of India, the Enforcement Directorate and the Financial Intelligence Unit.

The court was told that the SIT in turn had submitted a report to the court in a sealed cover. The SIT, established under the July 4, 2011 apex court order, has been mandated to undertake the investigation into the unaccounted money stashed away outside the country to tax havens and foreign bank and take steps to bring it back.

Meanwhile, the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, said that the Participatory Notes (P-notes) were "completely valid".

Telling the court that the petition was not maintainable, a senior counsel argued that it had nothing to do with the information emerging from the Panama Papers.  He said that the market regulator did not have any role in Panama Papers, adding that it “has been unnecessarily dragged into the issue as it has nothing to do with it”.