Arun Jaitley vows to act against those listed in Panama

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday warned of stringent action against people stashing black money, saying that prosecution would be initiated against those found to have parked funds illegally in accounts named in Panama Papers.

“If illegal money is found in accounts of those who are named in Panama case, then they will also be prosecuted as in case of HSBC accounts,” he said at a gala event organised by the Central government to celebrate the NDA government’s two years.

Incidentally Amitabh Bachchan, whose name has figured in Panama Papers disclosure, hosted one segment of the mega event titled Ek Nayi Subah, which focussed on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign.

Hundreds of Indians have been named in the leaked Panama Papers about entities having accounts in offshore tax havens.

Mr Jaitley, who was the first among the Union ministers to speak about the highlights of the government, said the Central government came out in the last fiscal with a law to deal with black money stashed abroad and was now focusing on domestic black money.

Mr Jaitley further stated that those failing to make the disclosure under this scheme face imprisonment up to 10 years and the law to deal with black money stashed abroad has yielded about Rs 4,000 crore.

He said the Government has taken action against those who had illegal accounts in Liechtenstein, a tax haven, and HSBC.

“Taxation authorities completed assessment of those people and filed criminal cases against those who had stashed money illegally in Liechtenstein,” he said.

Meanwhile top Union Ministers took part in a gala event, which had a smattering of Bollywood actors, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan, aimed at publicising the “achievements” of the Narendra Modi Government on completion of two years in office.

While the centrepiece event was held at historic India Gate that saw Mr Jaitley and many of his ministerial colleagues speak at length about numerous steps taken by the government across sectors, some Cabinet Ministers joined in from different parts of the country, including Mumbai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Vijaywada.