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The U.S. attorney
for Manhattan, Preet Bharara, has written to the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), requesting
additional details to aid his investigation, the newspaper said.
(http://bit.ly/1ThRreM)
A spokesman for Bharara declined to comment.
The ICIJ published the documents that have become known as the
Panama Papers on April 3. The 11.5 million confidential
documents contain information on about 214,000 offshore
companies compiled by Panamanian lawyers Mossack Fonseca that
illustrate how individuals and corporations hide assets from
public scrutiny and avoid taxes.
The Panama Papers cover a period over almost 40 years, from 1977
until last December.
The Justice Department probe comes after President Barack Obama
said the Panama Papers reports showed tax avoidance to be a huge
problem, and urged action to stop U.S. companies from taking
advantage of tax loopholes that allows them to avoid paying
sufficient taxes.
(Reporting by Sneha Teresa Johny in Bengaluru and Nate Raymond
in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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