SC asks govt whether SIT needed to probe Panama papers

New Delhi, Apr 18 () The Supreme Court today asked the government whether a Special Investigation Team (SIT) should be constituted to probe the offshore accounts of Indians revealed in the Panama paper leaks. A bench, headed by Justice Dipak Misra, asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P S Narasimha to seek instruction on whether a separate SIT can be tasked to probe the Panama Papers leak, besides Multi-Agency Group (MAG) set up by the government to probe into the black money cases. The court asked Narasimha to file the seventh report ofMAG within three days and took on record six reports filed insealed cover with regard to the investigation in the blackmoney cases.The bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkarand Justice M M Shantanagoudar, asked the ASG to inform aboutthe decision and posted the matter for hearing in July.At the outset, the ASG said that investigation into thenames leaked by a website was not simple and multiple agencieswere probing and trying to ascertain the details."The investigations into such names is still going on andall cases will be thoroughly investigated," he said, addingthat the MAG's report had a complete chapter on the Panamapaper leaks.Narasimha, while opposing separate investigation, saidthe probe into these cases were not like normal crimeincidents as it involved various aspects, like treaties withforeign countries, agreement for disclosures etc.He said each of the transactions spanned differentjurisdictions and may involve multiple entities andindividuals for which the probe by MAG was needed.The bench, told advocate M L Sharma who has soughtindependent probe into the Indian offshore account holdersnamed in Panama paper leaks, "they (multi-agencies) areinvestigating into the matter and we will see in due coursewhat is the outcome of their investigation".The Centre had constituted MAG consisting of officers ofthe Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT), Reserve Bank of India(RBI), Enforcement Directorate and Financial Intelligence Unitto investigate black money cases and is also probing thePanama Paper leaks.The apex court had on March 7 asked the Centre to placebefore it in a sealed cover all the six reports of MAG afterit was informed that sixth report has been completed and thegovernment was prepared to place all reports before the court.The Centre had sought dismissal of the PIL, saying MAGhas already been set up to ensure "speedy and coordinated"probe against Indians whose names have figured in the Panamapapers.The reports have already been submitted by MAG to theapex court-appointed Special Investigation Team on blackmoney, led by Justice (Retd) M B Shah, and to a Supreme Courtbench hearing the case.The Centre had on October 3, 2016 informed the court thatRs 8,186 crore, illegally kept in offshore banks by Indians,has been brought under tax ambit despite constraints likenon-sharing of information by Swiss authorities.Seeking dismissal of the PIL, it had said the SIT onblack money has been kept informed on regular basis about thedevelopment made in the probe.Sharma in his PIL had sought a court-monitoredindependent probe into the Panama papers leak which containedan unprecedented amount of information, including more than 11million documents covering 2,10,000 companies in 21 offshorejurisdictions.The petition had alleged that Panama papers included thenames of nearly 500 Indians, including celebrities andindustrialists, who have allegedly parked funds in offshoreaccounts in transactions brokered by the law firm. MNL ABASJKARC