Panama Papers is a document issued by a firm named Washington, based in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. These documents include the names of people from different countries who have hidden black money in foreign countries. First of all, this case came out in the year 2016.
The names of many Indian people and firms were also highlighted by Panama Papers. In these 426 cases related to India came out. Later, after deep scrutiny, 147 cases of these 426 cases were considered eligible for action by CBDT. It is notable that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to lose his power due to Panama papers.
The steps taken by the Government of India recently against the culprits of 'Panama Papers':
- Against the culprits of 'Panama Papers', a strict approach has been adopted by the Central Government. On the directions of the Central Government, the Income Tax Department has filed a criminal case against the culprits and accelerated the investigation
- The Income Tax Department has initiated criminal proceedings against those seven Indian firms and people under the new anti-black money act, whose names were included in the list related to the undeclared black money abroad.
- Action taken under the undeclared foreign income and property (taxation) Act passed in 2015 against the above mentioned persons. It is known that if this law is found guilty of placing undeclared property and illegal funds, a provision of 120 percent tax and penalties for imprisonment up to 10 years has also been made.
- Action will also be taken against these guilty people and firms under 'Prevention of Money Laundering Act'. It is to be noted that provisions of money laundering have been made in the Announced Foreign Income and Property (Taxation) Act passed in the year 2015.
Consent between India and Switzerland for automatic exchange of information on black money:
- Recently, the Government of India has received significant success against black money. The reason for this is that in relation to black money, an important parliamentary committee in Switzerland has given its approval to an agreement.
- The Committee on Economic and Taxation of the Upper House of the Swiss Parliament has granted its approval to the proposed agreement in connection with India and other 40 countries.
- If any Indian has a bank account in Switzerland after the implementation of this agreement, the concerned bank will provide all the account information to the Swiss authorities. After this, the Swiss authorities will send all information to the Indian authorities through automated arrangements.
- It is notable that nearly 100 countries including India and Switzerland have expressed their commitment to adopt global norms for automatic exchange of information to prevent cross-border evasion. Under this agreement, exchange of information between India and Switzerland will begin from 2019.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it can be said that the Indian government is very strict in relation to black money. This is the reason that the Government of India is taking an active step to automatically exchange black money related information with other countries including 'Panama Papers'.
