19 Vietnamese individuals, businesses named in Panama Papers verified The authorities have found information related to 19 individuals and organizations in Vietnam named in the Panama Papers, which were unveiled in early May.   Speaking to the media about the investigation of 189 Vietnamese people and firms in the Panama Papers on June 15, Nguyen Van Phung, from the Tax Administration of the Ministry of Finance, said investigators have found information relating to 19 individuals and organizations. The investigating group has identified 30 organizations connecting to these individuals and organizations. "The working group is checking information only and we have no basis to conclude whether these individuals and organizations committed violation or not," Phung said. He said the information in the Panama Papers is sketchy, including the English names and the addresses of these people and organizations in Vietnam, which are not found in Vietnam. To check out these people and organizations, the investigators had to divide them into small groups to identify each name mentioned in the dossier and match them with the existing data, using manual methods. From the 189 names listed in the Panama Papers, the working group had to review about 300,000 names, as they had to change the order of words to pair the new names. Finally they found information related to 30 names. The search is continuing in order to identify the organizations that have connection to these names. "Not everyone named in the documents are bad and committed laundering and tax evasion. This issue must be conducted in a very cautious manner, ensuring the principle of respect for law and transparency, but it does not harm the investment environment in Vietnam," Phung emphasized. Nam Nguyen, VNN