I-T dept to look into loan bribery case: FinMin

The government today said the Income Tax (I-T) department would look into the tax issues relating to the housing loan scam racket.

When asked if the I-T department would be looking into the multi crore housing scam, Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra said, "As of now no, but they (I-T department) would be (looking into the scam)."

Yesterday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested the LIC Housing Finance CEO Ramachandran Nair, LIC Secretary (Investment) Naresh K Chopra, CMD of Mumbai-based firm Money Matters Rajesh Sharma and five other bank officials on allegations of connection with a housing finance racket.

The Finance Ministry had said that the housing scam is a bribery case involving some individuals and not a large-scale scam.

"It's an individual case of bribery. There is no large-scale scam. Banking system is sound," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena had said yesterday.

CBI has named several real estate developers in the first report. They include Mantri Realty, Kumar Developers, DB Realty, Emaar MGF and Lavasa Corporation.

Meena added that the non-performing assets (NPAs) are minimal in housing loans -- less than one per cent. And also, the exposure of loans to builders is 11-12 per cent of total housing advances.

"There is no impact on asset quality of banks," he had said.

Top officials from banks and financial firms were arrested yesterday on charges of taking bribes for granting loans to corporates.