The BJP-led NDA government has ordered for the formation of a special agency for the investigation of Indians involved in ‘Panama Papers’. Panama papers are a set of leaked 11 million documents, which showed the way rich, all through the world, used tax havens to hide their wealth.

These documents were leaked to a German newspaper and it shared in turn with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

After getting directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the multi-agency group was set up comprising officers belonging to the investigative units of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Reserve Bank of India, the Financial Intelligence Union and Foreign Tax & Tax Research division.

Also read: Arun Jaitley warns against unaccounted wealth abroad

Following the directions from the Supreme Court, a Special Investigation Team on Black Money was formed earlier. The team has submitted a third report to the court last year, in which it said that many departments were not prepared to share information pertaining to tax evasion cases.

The Indian Express has reported that more than 500 Indians are linked to secret firms in overseas tax havens. The report was based on the leaked documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca. It is a law firm headquartered in tax haven Panama with offices located across 42 countries and many more franchises.

Also read: Amitabh, Aishwarya among 500 Indians in Panama Papers list

Among those reportedly involved in the list are film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, DLF promoter K.P. Singh and Vinod Adani, elder brother of Adani Group founder and chairman Gautam Adani.

- Sumana