Panama is willing to assist India with its investigation into the 2016 Panama Papers leak case, which included the identities of various Indian celebrities and business tycoons.
Panama’s foreign minister, Janaina Tewaney, told TOI in an interview that her country is willing to trade information with India and to tell Indian authorities on the progress it has achieved to improve transparency in its financial system.
While appreciating India’s campaign against black money, the minister stated that she had communicated this to her counterpart S Jaishankar in a meeting earlier this week. This is the first public guarantee of cooperation from a high-level political power in Panama for Indian investigations, which the government claims discovered concealed credits of Rs 20,353 crore in Panama and Paradise Papers leak.
Tewaney, who has Indian ancestors, is in India as a special invitee to the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas. She also represented her country at the Voice of the Global South forum.
“For us, exchanging information is a part of our reality now. We are making efforts to meet transparency standards that even developed countries are not doing. We are ready to exchange information and, as I conveyed to minister Jaishankar, we are also willing to inform the Indian government about our efforts to ensure transparency,” Tewaney was reported saying by TOI.
While Panama is already engaging with other nations on a “technical level,” the minister stressed the importance of informing her counterparts on a political level about her country’s actions, which remain on the FATF’s Increased Monitoring list.
The FATF wants Panama to implement efficient systems for monitoring the operations of offshore firms, as well as demonstrating its ability to investigate and prosecute money laundering involving foreign tax offences.
It has also vowed to call on member states to exercise greater caution in their economic dealings with Panama if the Central American country does not complete its action plan by February 2023.
Following the 2016 Leak, India organised a multi-agency committee comprised of officers from the CBDT, Enforcement Directorate, FIU, and Reserve Bank of India to investigate accounts associated with Indian nationals.
In December 2021, the government notified Parliament that, as of October 1, 2021, total hidden credits totaling Rs 20,353 crore had been found with regard to 930 India-linked organisations in Panama and Paradise paper.
