Appleby not involved in Paradise Papers leak disclosures: Company

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SME Times News Bureau | 27 Feb, 2020
Appleby, a Bermuda-based legal services provider said on Thursday it did not disclose any data with regard to Paradise Papers, rather it considers data hack was a criminal act and the leak of information does not involve any of its officials.

The issue comes amidst the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) setting the March 31 deadline for completion of the Panama and Paradise Papers probes and filing of the report for initiation of prosecution.

In this context there are names of several companies floating in the media about who disclosed much of the data on these Papers.

Appleby said on Thursday it did not disclose any data.

"The data hack was a criminal act, the work of a sophisticated cyber-criminal and not a leak involving anyone at Appleby", the company said in a statement .

The revenue department had unearthed over Rs 1,000 crore undisclosed income in Panama Papers, in which several prominent personalities, like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Sameer Gehlaut and K.P. Singh of DLF, were allegedly named. Around 714 entities and individuals had been named in Paradise Papers case in 2017.

Around 426 Indian entities with offshore accounts were under the income tax department lens in 2016. Former Minister of State Jayant Sinha, an MP from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, was also named in the case.

The income tax department is investigating these cases under the Black Money Act, 2015, under which any person unable to justify the source of funds in question will have to pay nearly 300 percent penalty on the applicable tax liability.