I-T department identifies 30,000 shell companies in Kolkata

With the government intensifying its probe into unaccounted money post-demonetisation, the income-tax department and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) have identified close to 30,000 shell companies in Kolkata.

Most of these companies have been used to launder unaccounted money after the note ban and some of them do not even possess a PAN (permanent account number), according to government sources.

Directors of 15,000 shell companies are also directors of 15,685 companies, all from Kolkata, sources said.

Over the last two weeks, the I-T department has started verification of suspicious transactions post-demonetisation through intensive door-to-door search operations, and Kolkata