Panama Papers: Rs 792 cr undisclosed money detected by IT dept

Investigations in the Panama Papers leak cases have resulted in the Income Tax Department detecting undisclosed wealth of 792 crore so far even as the probe is on in "full swing", the CBDT said today.

Over a year after Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made the documents public, the CBDT said it has found 147 of the total 426 cases "actionable".

"Investigations have led to the detection of undisclosed credits (in offshore bank accounts) of about Rs 792 crore so far. Investigation is in full swing," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the poilcy-making body of the income tax department, said in a statement.

It said that taxman has filed 5 criminal prosecution complaints in these instances, while it has served seven notices under the new anti-black money act to the entities allegedly involved.

The department also conducted searches in 35 cases and surveys in 11, it said.

"The Income Tax Department conducted enquiries in all 426 cases, inter alia, through making 395 references to 28 foreign jurisdictions.

"Based on analysis of the information obtained and investigation conducted, the outcome so far indicates 147 actionable cases and 279 non-actionable cases (non-residents/ or no irregularities)," it said.

The Panama Papers, the CBDT said, contained brief particulars of about 426 persons, prima facie, Indians or persons of Indian origin.

The government constituted a multi-agency group (MAG) of investigative agencies in April last year to probe these instances.

The MAG has so far submitted seven reports to the government.

The CBDT said further investigation was in progress.