Catch them red-handed: I-T cracks down on money laundering rackets across India

The income tax sleuths have cracked down on several money laundering rackets across the country that are fraudulently converting black money into white for a commission post demonetization of high-currency notes. The tax department has nabbed offenders and recovered cash worth crores in crackdowns in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and  Nagpur.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes said that one of the syndicates were caught exchanging old currency notes for 35 per cent commission.

They also found a case in Nagpur where a large sum of money was deposited in a bank account without the knowledge of the account holder and seven accounts were being fraudulently operated by unknown persons to launder Rs 4.25 crore.

Investigations in Mumbai found that a syndicate of ground-level operators was converting banned currency notes into legal tenders for a commission.

As part of the operation, Income Tax Investigation Directorate sent out a few decoy customers seeking to exchange banned currency notes into new notes.

"The syndicate, acting through its mediator, agreed to the exchange for a 35 per cent commission. The mediator was caught red handed and new currency notes aggregating to Rs. 29.5 lakh were seized," the CBDT said in a statement.

Post the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8 midnight, the tax department has been extensively conducting search and seizure operations to unearth black money.

In Ahmedabad, the I-T sleuths uncovered 24 cartons in the godown of the transporter meant for transport to Delhi. Lorry receipts declared these to contain firecrackers.

When the cartons were opened and examined, two cartons were found to conceal currencies in the denomination of Rs. 100 aggregating Rs 27 lakhs.

On interrogation, the consigner claimed that the cash was on account of sale of firecrackers being transported to Delhi for the purchase of firecrackers. The cash has been seized, CBDT said.

 

Another investigation into cash deposits in a bank account in Nagpur revealed that the account holder had no knowledge of the existence of her account where Rs 3.29 crore had been deposited after November 8.

 

Enquiries by the department revealed that there were six more such accounts in her and her parents' names. The seven accounts were opened and operated by unknown persons to launder cash of Rs. 4.25 crore.

 

"Evidence gathered suggest that copies of PAN and other personal documents that she handed over to a friend a few years back were used to fraudulently open these accounts in Kolkata, which were operated to channel suspicious funds to 8 beneficiaries, who are now being investigated," CBDT said.