The government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it was “absolutely serious” about conducting investigations into disclosures in the Panama Papers leak.
The agency was reacting to a query from the Supreme Court on how it intends to enquire into the Panama papers leak allegedly naming nearly 500 high-profile Indians, who have money reportedly parked in off-shore accounts.
Responding to the question from a Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government has already constituted a multi-agency group.
SEBI plea
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India asked the apex court for permission to withdraw from the public interest litigation petition filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma seeking an SIT probe into the Indians allegedly named in the Panama Papers . Senior advocate Arvind Dattar, for SEBI, said his client was a market regulator and had no role in the current litigation.
Corruption cases
The petition sought direction to the CBI to lodge FIRs and conduct investigation for alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
A Multi-Agency Group (MAG) of various investigative agencies has been formed by the government to go into the disclosures made in the list.
The Panama Papers contain an unprecedented amount of information, including more than 11 million documents covering 2,10,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions.
