Panama Papers

OP Khaitan & Co managing partner Gautam Khaitan - who had spent more than three months in jail during the CBI’s AgustaWestland chopper scam investigation in late 2014 - had provided a reference for a client to work with the controversial Panama-headquartered law firm Mossack Fonseca, reported the Indian Express as part of its ongoing Panama Papers coverage.

There are many cases in the Supreme Court, which are under continuous monitoring of the court, meaning that the court, rather than dispose them of after issuing certain orders, monitors them once in a while, so as to ensure compliance with its orders by the authorities concerned. The petition, filed by senior counsel Ram Jethmalani in 2009, (writ petition [civil] 176 of 2009) is one such, which has seen several ups and downs.

Senior counsel Harish Salve, whose name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers leak of more than 11 million financial documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, published in India by the Indian Express, told Legally India that including his name was unfair, since his use of a British Virgin Islands-based (BVI) shell company was legal and transparently declared in his tax returns.