Why no action against all those named in Panama papers, asks Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress today questioned why no action has been taken against all the people whose names have come up in the Panama papers.

Congress communications incharge Randeep Surjewala wondered if there was a "conspiracy" to save those with blackmoney and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to "speak up" on the issue.

The Congress leader asked "why no FIR has been filed or action by the CBI and the ED initiated" against those who have taken black money abroad in violation of FEMA rules and whose names have appeared in Panama papers.

"I hope the prime minister will speak up on this issue," he said.

He claimed that the total black money unearthed and tax evasion detected during the Congress government was at Rs 1,01,750 crore in 2013-14, which has come down to Rs 27,000 crore last year and it had further fallen to between Rs 18,000 crore and Rs 20,000 crore this year.

"Where has the balance money gone? After all we have a Prime Minister who wants to catch every tax evader, then why is the amount of tax evasion caught by Income Tax and other agencies actually dropped down by one-fourth is a question that Modiji needs to answer," he told reporters.

Dubbed as Panama Papers, an investigation of records from Panamanian legal firm Mossack Fonseca by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists had named several leaders and celebrities who had allegedly stashed away money abroad in offshore companies.

The documents had surfaced last year.