Black money account holders emptying Swiss accounts, says SIT report

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 06, 2014:  Black money account holders seem to be ferreting out money from their overseas accounts even before the Government of India can act against them, according to the first report of the Special Investigation Team on black money, which was accessed by Headlines Today.

The report was submitted by SIT members Justices MB Shah and Arijit Pasayat to the Supreme Court in August this year. The Supreme Court is directly monitoring the case.

Among the startling facts is this: There is no money left in 289 accounts in the list of 628 furnished by multinational bank HSBC. This means that almost half the account holders may evacuated whatever funds they had parked in these accounts before the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) could access their account statement.

Almost 20 per cent of the total entries, 122 cases, are joint account holders further pruning the HSBC list to only 217 cases that can be investigated.

Of these accounts, the SIT report said, search and seizure operations have been carried out in 142 cases, survey in 8 cases, suo motu action in 17 cases.

A total of 319 account holders, the report said, admitted to having accounts with HSBC. Though the Switzerland government has not handed over any information about the total 628 accounts despite efforts by the SIT and the CBDT.

The SIT report said a consent waiver exercise was necessitated after Swiss authorities refused to share information and consent to secure account details was obtained in 174 cases and sent to HSBC. The CBD has completed tax assessment in 65 of these cases. And a concealment penalty has been initiated in many of these cases.

Listing details, the SIT report said prosecution proceedings for not furnishing account details have been launched in 27 cases so far, and in one case, the matter has already reached the courts.

Apart from the HSBC list, the SIT report provides status reports on the alleged black money cases being investigated by the CBI. In the STC export-import case, the CBI found that the modus operandi was to show remittance for non-existent imports. The matter pertains to Rajat Pharmachem which in collusion with STC remitted Rs.259 crore to Singapore. But the investigation showed import and export had not taken place.

In the NAFED case, export of commodities to different countries was carried out between Renfrew Security Bank and Trust through NAFED. CBI investigation shows that the sellers and buyers were bogus companies. It is suspected that Rs.233 crore was laundered here.

The highest amount being investigated by the CBI is in a Ponzi scheme. In this scheme, PACL Limited allegedly defrauded investors across the country of Rs.650 crore in the sale and development of agricultural land. This money was routed to two Australian companies -- Pearl Australasia and Pearl Australasia Miraj.

In all the cases under investigation, the amounts being probed do not exceed Rs.650 crore. This shows that the astronomical sum of US $ 1 trillion being bandied by the likes of Baba Ramdev is highly unlikely to be realised.

The Global Financial Integrity Foundation presented the analysis of a report on illicit financial flows from developing countries before the SIT. It estimated that India stands at number 5 among 142 countries in illicit financial flows and pegged the average flow of illegal funds in India at US $ 34,393 million. Over the past 12 years, a total US $ 3,43,922 million dollars of illegal funds have been routed through India, says the report.

 
 Courtesy: Indiatoday