Panama Papers: All you need to know about the leaked documents

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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What is the Panama Papers Leak? Panama Papers refer to 11.3 million leaked documents containing information on offshore accounts in tax havens.These offshore accounts are said to belong to top politicos, businessmen and some of our own Bollywood stars. A total of 140 offshore firms are mentioned in the report.Company under lensMossack Fonseca, a law firm, based in Panama, is said to have set up these offshore firms or shell companies.What is a shell company?A shell company is not a legitimate business. It manages the money in it and hides the identity of the owners.Who outed the documents?The documents were published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Modus Operandi Mossack helped its rich and powerful clients hide their income which runs into billions of dollars. Mossack got directors to stand in for the real owners of bank accounts that come under the name of anonymous offshore companies registered by it.What are popular tax havens?British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Panama.India ConnectThe list features over 500 Indians connected to these offshore firms. It includes film stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Corporate hotshots like KP Singh of DLF and 9 members of his family feature in list.Promoters of Apollo Tyres, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Gautam Adani's elder brother, Vinod Adani also get a shout-out.Prominent Foreigners Russian president Vladimir Putin is said to have stashed away USD 2 billion in offshore accounts. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family, along with 200 Pakistanis, are mentioned in the report.Other notables include Jackie Chan and Lionel Messi.How It Works In IndiaIn India, until 2004, there was no law allowing resident Indians to transfer money abroad. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set an overseas transfer limit of USD 25,000 a year which has gradually been increased to USD 2,50,000 a year now. RBI said resident Indians can make portfolio investments or buy shares abroad. Setting up companies abroad, however, was considered illegal.In 2014, the regulator allowed resident limited liability partnership firms to invest in joint ventures and overseas subsidiaries of Indian companies. Companies, which had bought or set up companies in tax havens before 2013, could now be facing trouble.