Rajan on Panama Papers: Will investigate legitimacy of offshore entities set up by Indians

The Reserve Bank of India will gauge overseas accounts of Indians named in the Panama Papers leaked on Monday and check for their legitimacy, Raghuram Rajan said, while speaking to the media after the first bi-monthly monetary policy announcement. 

In the policy meet, the RBI cut the key policy rates by 25 bps, in line with the expectations of the market, banks, and experts. 

While answering a question on the Indians named in the Panama Papers, he said that the RBI "is a part of the investigative team that will look into these matters."

He said, "it's important to remember that there are legitimate reasons too, to have accounts overseas. We will have to see what is legitimate and not legitimate."

About 500 Indians, including industrialists, politicians, Bbollywood celebrities, cricketers, cricket deals, some government transactions were revealed in the 1.15 crore documents that were leaked of the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. These documents, which includes transcripts of emails, bank transactions, photo identity proofs for registration process and passport copies of various global leaders, celebrities, and high net worth individuals has triggered off various investigations across the globe.