Banks, ATMs Not Running in Muslim Areas Modi a 'Tyrant', - Owaisi

[Hindustani78]

New Delhi, September 29, 2017 20:06 IST
Updated: September 29, 2017 20:06 IST

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...venue-collections-jaitley/article19775703.ece

Listing out the benefits of demonetisation, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on September 29 said that direct tax collections had risen 15.7% till September 18, adding that undisclosed income of ₹5,400 crore was also detected.

“Net collections up to September 18 in the current financial year rose to ₹3.7 lakh crore, a growth of 15.7%. The revenue collections in case of direct taxes rose to ₹8,49,818 crore during 2016-17, a growth of 14.5%,” he said while highlighting the impact of November 8, 2016 demonetisation and the proactive initiatives of the Income-Tax Department.

Mr. Jaitley was addressing the Consultative Committee of the Finance Ministry ‘Initiatives of the Income Tax Department’ in New Delhi. The Minister said the number of taxpayers increased significantly from 4.72 crore in 2012-13 to 6.26 crore during 2016-17.

“As far as the drive against black money is concerned, the department has taken various initiatives since this government came to power. After the intense follow-up of demonetisation data from November 9, 2016, to January 10, 2017, about 1,100 searches were made, resulting in the seizure of ₹610 crore, including ₹513 crore in cash. Undisclosed income of ₹5,400 crore was detected and about 400 cases referred to the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for appropriate action,” he said.

In this regard, the Minister mentioned the enactment of the Black Money Act, 2015, comprehensive amendments to the Benami Act of 1988 and ‘Operation Clean Money’. Mr. Jaitley said the department has taken various initiatives in the last 2-3 years to bring about efficiency, transparency, and fairness in tax administration.

The Minister said a Single Page ITR-1 (SAHAJ) Form was introduced for taxpayers with annual income up to ₹50 lakh. “The rate of tax for individuals with income of ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh was reduced from 10 % to 5 %, one of the lowest in the world,” he added.

Mr. Jaitley said the concept of ‘no scrutiny’ was introduced for the first time non-business taxpayers with incomes of up to ₹5 lakh so that more and more people were encouraged to come under the tax net and file their I-T returns. He said corporate tax was reduced to 25 % for companies with turnover of up to ₹50 crore, thereby covering almost 96 % of the companies.

The new manufacturing companies incorporated on or after March 1, 2016, were given an option to be taxed at 25% without deduction. The Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) credit was allowed to be carried forward up to 15 years, instead of 10 years, as part of procedural reforms.

In the field of e-governance, the Finance Minister said that 97% of the income tax returns were filed electronically this year, of which 92% were processed within 60 days and 90% refunds issued within 60 days.

“Grievance redressal system — e-nivaran — was introduced, which integrates all online and paper grievances and tracks them till their resolution. Every grievance is acknowledged and resolution intimated through emails and SMSes. Eighty four per cent of 4.65 lakh e-nivaran grievances have been resolved so far,” he said.

Mr. Jaitley said that the e-governance initiatives of the Income-Tax Department have helped in having minimum direct interface between tax assessing authorities and assesses, which in turn helped in minimising harassment, curbing corruption, and saving time.

He highlighted other department initiatives as far as ease of doing business and promoting financial markets were concerned. He specifically mentioned the introduction of presumptive taxation scheme for professionals with incomes of up to ₹50 lakh.

The Minister said India had entered into collaboration with 148 countries on exchange of information on tax matters and with 39 countries on criminal matters. He said changes in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements with Mauritius and Singapore have been incorporated to allow for source-based taxation of capital gains on shares and interest income of banks.

In order to promote less-cash economy and digital transactions, the Minister said, various initiatives were taken, including penalty for cash receipt of ₹2 lakh or more, reducing limit for cash donation to charitable trusts from ₹10,000 to ₹2,000 and to ₹2,000 to political parties.

The Consultative Committee members gave suggestions to improve both revenue collections and overall performance of the department.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Corporate Affairs
06-October, 2017 12:44 IST
Government of India receives vital information from 13 Banks regarding the bank account operations and post-demonetization transactions of some of the 2,09,032 suspicious companies that had been struck off the Register of Companies earlier this year;

Investigative agencies have been asked to complete necessary investigation in a time bound manner.

In what is undoubtedly a major breakthrough in its fight against black money and shell companies, vital information has been received by the Government of India from 13 banks regarding the bank account operations and post-demonetization transactions of some of the 2,09,032 suspicious companies that had been struck off the Register of Companies earlier this year. It may be recalled that after being struck off, operation of the bank accounts of these 2,09,032 suspicious companies were restricted for discharge of their liabilities only.

These 13 banks have submitted their First Instalment of data. The data received from them pertains to merely about 5,800 companies (out of more than 2 lakh that were struck off) involving 13,140 accounts. This in itself is a revealing figure. Few of the companies have been found to have more than 100 accounts to their names. The highest grosser among these is a company having 2134 accounts, followed by others having accounts in the range of 900, 300 etc.

The data pertaining to the pre demonetization account balances and transactions conducted from the accounts of these companies during the demonetization period is even more startling.

It is informed that, after separating the loan accounts, these companies were having a meagre balance of Rs 22.05 crore to their credit on 8th November, 2016.

However, from 9th November, 2016 i.e. after the announcement of demonetization, till the date of their being struck off, these companies have altogether deposited a huge amount of Rs. 4,573.87 crore in their accounts and withdrawn an equally large amount of Rs 4,552 crore. With loan accounts, there was a negative opening balance of Rs 80.79 crore.

Disturbing factors have been identified of companies having multiple accounts with miniscule or negative balance as on 8th November, 2016 which have then deposited and withdrawn amounts going in several crores from these accounts. The accounts were thereafter again left as dormant accounts with paltry balance. As mentioned earlier, this exercise of swindling the authorities was carried-out post demonetization till the companies were struck off. In some cases, certain companies have gone more adventurous and made deposits and withdrawals even after being struck off.

For example, in one of the Bank, 429 companies having zero balance each as on 8th November, 2016 have deposited and withdrawn over Rs 11 crore and left again with a cumulative balance of just Rs 42,000 as at the date of freezing.

Similarly in the case of another Bank, more than 3000 such companies, most having multiple accounts, have been located. From having a cumulative balance of about Rs. 13 crore as on 8th November, 2016, these companies have deposited and withdrawn about Rs 3800 crore, leaving a negative cumulative balance of almost Rs 200 crore at the time of freezing of their accounts.

It needs to be re-emphasized that this data is only about 2.5% of the total number of suspected companies that have been struck off by the Government. The huge money game played by these companies may well be the tip of an iceberg of corruption, black money and black deeds of these and many more of their brethren.

The investigative agencies have been asked to complete necessary investigation in a time bound manner. The country and honest citizen may well look forward to a more cleaner tomorrow.



*****

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Ec...us-accounts/article19813863.ece?homepage=true

Data stems from banks after RoC struck off 2 lakh firms

The Union government on Friday said the post-demonetisation transaction data from 13 banks cast suspicion on 5,800 companies with 13,140 bank accounts.

The Registrar of Companies struck off 2,09,032 companies from its lists earlier this year on the suspicion that they were shell companies.

The data provided to the government showed the transactions of some of these companies.

“It may be recalled that after being struck off, operation of the bank accounts of these 2,09,032 suspicious companies were restricted for discharge of their liabilities only,” the government said in a release here on Friday.

“These 13 banks have submitted their first instalment of data. The data received from them pertains to merely about 5,800 companies (out of more than 2 lakh that were struck off) involving 13,140 accounts.” it added.

Revealing figure

This in itself is a revealing figure, the government said, highlighting the fact that some companies were found to be haing more than a hundred accounts to their names.

The company with the highest number of accounts had 2,134 account associated with it, followed by others having accounts in the range of 900, 300 and so on, the government statement added.

“The data pertaining to the pre-demonetisation account balances and transactions conducted from the accounts of these companies during the demonetisation period are even more startling,” the release said.

Disturbing factors
“It is informed that, after separating the loan accounts, these companies were having a meagre balance of ₹22.05 crore to their credit on November 8, 2016. However, from November 9, 2016, after the announcement of demonetisation, till the date of their being struck off, these companies have altogether deposited a huge amount of ₹4,573.87 crore in their accounts and withdrawn an equally large amount of ₹4,552 crore.” it added.

“Disturbing factors have been identified of companies having multiple accounts with miniscule or negative balance as on November 8, 2016 which have then deposited and withdrawn amounts going in several crores from these accounts,” the official release added.

Dormant accounts
“The accounts were thereafter again left as dormant accounts with paltry balance. As mentioned earlier, this exercise of swindling the authorities was carried out post-demonetisation till the companies were struck off,” the release said.

In some cases, the government said, some companies had even made deposits and withdrawals even after being struck off.

For example, in one of the banks, 429 companies with zero balance each as on November 8, 2016 deposited and withdrew over ₹11 crore and left again with a cumulative balance of just ₹42,000 as at the date of freezing of the accounts.

Miniscule number
“It needs to be re-emphasised that this data is only about 2.5% of the total number of suspected companies that have been struck off by the hovernment,” the statement said.

“The huge money game played by these companies may well be the tip of an iceberg of corruption, black money and black deeds of these and many more of their brethren.”

“The investigative agencies have been asked to complete necessary investigation in a time bound manner,” it added.

“The country and honest citizens may well look forward to a more cleaner tomorrow.”

The huge money game played by these companies may well be the tip of the iceberg of black deeds.

 

[Hindustani78]

The assets were attached in connection with a money laundering probe in a terror financing case involving the banned outfit Indian Mujahideen .
india Updated: Oct 13, 2017 23:29 IST
Press Trust of India, New Delhi

Officials at the Directorate of Enforcement office in New Delhi.(PTI File Photo)


http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...n-karnataka/story-NaPh1hGjlDrEUhj9gCMNeI.html


The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs five lakh in Karnataka in connection with a money laundering probe in a terror financing case involving the banned outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM).

The central probe agency said the attachment, issued under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), includes a residential property in Mangalore “belonging to the persons involved in terror financing” who were also “linked” to a Pakistani.

The ED said that a person named Dheeraj Sao got cash deposits in his bank accounts from various parts of the country for a commission.

“After keeping his commission, he (Sao) used to transfer the remaining amounts to bank accounts of persons associated with terror outfit Indian Mujahideen such as Zubair Hussain, Aysha Banu, Raju Khan and others,” it alleged.

The agency said it tracked the crime money and found that Banu and Hussain had acquired a residential property at Panjimogeru in Karnataka’s Mangalore.

“All the accused were linked to Pakistani national Khalid and as per his directions had opened accounts in various banks to receive money and transfer the same to members of terrorist outfit IM after deducting their commission.

“In all these accounts, mostly cash money had been deposited by unknown persons from various locations in India other than the home branch and the cash deposits were withdrawn immediately through ATMs and used for terror activities,” the ED said.

The ED said it is probing the people involved and their links further

 

[Hindustani78]

NEW DELHI , October 25, 2017 21:30 IST
Updated: October 25, 2017 21:30 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nov-8-anti-black-money-day-jaitley/article19919456.ece
Congress looked reconciled to shadow economy, says Jaitley
The BJP will be marking November 8, first anniversary of the Union government’s decision to demonetise high value currency notes, as “anti-black money day” across the country.

Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley announced this as a priority programme for the party and its leaders as well as Union Ministers.

Congress calls it a black day

The BJP’s move comes as 18 Opposition political parties had announced their own programme of marking the day as a “black day” terming the decision to demonetise as “ill conceived and hasty”.

Mr. Jaitley said the Union government had a strong resolve against black money and the shadow economy and the decision to demonetise and the implementation of the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime were part of a long line of decisions taken by the government against black money.

“One of the first decisions taken by this government was to form the Special Task Force mandated by the Supreme Court but not implemented by the previous UPA government against black money. This was followed by legislative actions like operationalising the Benami Act that had been defunct for many years. This affected not just commercial businesses but also politicians. The government also moved against money stashed in tax havens across the world, and [was] reworking double taxation avoidance treaties used for round tripping money, which hadn’t been done since 1996,” he said.

‘GST a new transition’

“Demonetisation was a major step to squeeze cash-only transactions and a spur towards digitisation of transactions. The GST is a new transition after which generation of unaccounted cash will be difficult,” he said. “We [BJP] are ready to take forward the debate on the fight against black money,” he said.

On the Opposition terming demonetisation as “hasty and ill conceived”, Mr. Jaitley said, “The Congress had an adequate opportunity in power and I don’t recall a single step that they took to fight black money. They seemed to be reconciled to the shadow economy, it is understandable.”

“Those who have never fought black money were happy with the laundering of it and are dismayed at it being liable to tax via entry through the banking system,” he added.

“Confiscation of money was never the aim of demonetisation, squeezing the quantum of cash in the system, detecting sources of terror funding, counterfeit notes was,” he said.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/639498/note-ban-cvc-says-460.html

Press Trust of India, New Delhi, Oct 26 2017, 18:31 IST

Action has been taken by the Central Vigilance Commission on complaints against certain banks officials for violating the RBI norms to allow conversion of banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Photo credit: DH Photo

At least 460 officials of various banks, including those from the private sector and the Reserve Bank of India, were punished for their involvement in irregularities post-demonetisation.

Addressing a press conference, Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin said the commission acted on all such complaints of corruption and took necessary action.

"Action has been taken against 460 officials of various banks. For the first time, action was taken against those in the private sector banks and against those in the RBI," Bhasin said.

He was responding to questions on action taken by the Central Vigilance Commission on complaints against certain banks officials for violating the RBI norms to allow conversion of banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The CBI has also registered over 30 cases involving bank officials for their involvement in corruption post-demonetisation.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...run-jaitley/article19997000.ece?homepage=true

On November 8 last, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of ₹1,000 and old ₹500 notes to "combat corruption, black money, terrorism and fake currency."

The note ban done a year ago was a watershed moment in the country’s economic history that has provided the next generation with a fair and honest system to live in, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the decision to invalidate 86 per cent of the currency in circulation, Mr. Jaitley said the move had met its objective of reducing cash in the economy, ending anonymity of cash, bringing in more individuals in the tax net and dealing a body blow to black money.

In a 1,843 word blog, A Year After Demonetisation, he said that November 8, 2016 “signifies the resolve of this government to cure the country from the ‘dreaded disease of black money’. November 8, 2016 would be remembered as a watershed moment in the history of Indian economy. In an overall analysis, it would not be wrong to say that country has moved on to a much cleaner, transparent and honest financial system,” he said.

'benefits may not yet be visible to some people'

The benefits may not yet be visible to some people. The next generation would view the post- November, 2016 economic development with a great sense of pride as it had provided them a fair and honest system to live in, he said.

On November 8 last, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of ₹1,000 and old ₹500 notes to "combat corruption, black money, terrorism and fake currency."

Of the ₹15.44 lakh crore worth of notes withdrawn from circulation, ₹15.28 lakh crore had been deposited back as on June 30, 2017. Currency worth ₹17.77 lakh crore was in circulation on November 8 last.

Mr. Jaitley said that post the note ban, the currency in circulation was less by ₹3.89 lakh crore, which has met the objective of less cash economy so as to reduce the flow of black money in to the system.

“With the return of ₹15.28 lakh crore in the formal banking system, almost entire cash holding of the economy now has an address. It is no more anonymous,” he said. From this inflow, the suspicious transactions under the radar ranged from ₹ 1.6 lakh crore to ₹1.7 lakh crore. The tax administration and other enforcement agencies were using big data analytics to crack down on suspicious transactions, he said.

Undisclosed income admitted and detected, taken together, amounted to ₹29,213 crore, which is close to 18 per cent of the amount involved in suspicious transactions. Also, the removal of anonymity with currency had led to 56 lakh new individual tax payers filing returns this year till August 5 and self-assessment tax (voluntary payment by taxpayers at the time of filing return) paid by non-corporate entities increasing by 34.25 per cent.

With an increase in tax base and undisclosed income brought back into the formal economy, the amount of Advance Tax paid by non-corporate tax payers in the current year had also increased by about 42 per cent, Mr. Jaitley said.

Shell companies busted
“The leads gathered due to data collected during demonetisation period led to the identification of 2.97 lakh suspect shell companies and 2.24 lakh companies were de-registered.'' Further actions were taken to stop operations of bank accounts of these struck-off companies. Actions were also taken for freezing their bank accounts and debarring their directors from being on board of any company.

Mr. Jaitley said that out of the struck-off companies, 28,088 had deposited and withdrawn ₹10,200 crore from 49,910 bank accounts from November 9, 2016 till the date of being struck off.

Simultaneously, the Income Tax Department took action against more than 1,150 shell companies that were used as conduits by over 22,000 beneficiaries to launder more than ₹13,300 crore.

And the SEBI has introduced a Graded Surveillance Measure at stock exchanges.

The Minister also said demonetisation appeared to have led to an acceleration in the financialisation of savings. “In parallel, there is a shift towards greater formalisation of the economy in the near term aided by the introduction of Good and Services Tax (GST),” he said.

Big leap in digital payments
Demonetisation also led to a big leap in digital payments. As many as 110 crore transactions, valued at around ₹3.3 lakh crore — and another 240 crore transactions, valued at ₹3.3 lakh crore — were carried out through credit cards and debit cards respectively. The value of transactions for debit and credit cards, in contrast, was ₹1.6 lakh crore and ₹2.4 lakh crore respectively during 2015-16. The value of transactions with pre-paid instruments also increased.

With higher level of formalisation, workers have got social security benefits as reflected in large increase in opening of bank accounts for workers, enrolment in EPF and ESIC.

“The reduction in incidences of pelting of stones, protests in J&K and naxal activities in the LWE [Left Wing Extremism] affected districts are also attributed to the impact of demonetisation as these miscreants have run out of cash. Their access to fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) was also restricted,” he said.

New Delhi, November 07, 2017 22:41 IST
Updated: November 07, 2017 22:41 IST

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nia-seizes-36-cr-in-demonetised-notes/article19999439.ece

Seven arrested; seizure in Delhi linked to ongoing probe in Kashmir terror funding case, says agency
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday seized over ₹36 crore in demonetised ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency.

The agency says the seizures were made in connection with the investigation of the Jammu and Kashmir terror-funding case. More than a dozen people, even lower-rung separatists, have been arrested in connection with the case.

Exchange bid

“The NIA is investigating a case relating to the financing of terrorist and separatist activities in the Kashmir valley. During the investigation, it had emerged that persons/entities linked to the separatists and terrorists were still in possession of a significant amount of demonetised currency which they could not deposit / convert during the period earmarked by the government. Surveillance was mounted on such persons/ entities. This led to unearthing of a conspiracy wherein a gang of such persons/ entities were making an attempt to convert this demonetised money into valid currency,” the agency said in a statement.

The NIA team allegedly intercepted the gang members at Jai Singh Road near Connaught Place in the national capital on Monday. “Twenty-eight cartons filled with demonetised currency notes of denomination ₹500 and ₹1000 from four luxury vehicles, including two BMWs, were seized,” the NIA said. Those arrested have been identified as Pradeep Chauhan, 47, Bhagwan Singh, 54, Vinod Shreedhar Shetty, 47, Shahnawaz Mir, 45, Deepak Toprani, 60, Majid Yousuf Sofi, 27, Ejajul Hassan, 38, Umar Mushtaq Dar, 27, and Jaswinder Singh, 53.

 

[Hindustani78]

Demonetised currency notes.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...onetisation/article20004243.ece?homepage=true


The CBI had registered 77 cases and seven preliminary enquiries related to demonetisation of high denomination currency notes said the agency spokesperson, Abhishek Dayal at a press conference here on Wednesday.

The agency has reported illegal tender amounting to ₹395.19 crore from the cases registered.

Through a release, the agency noted that they received 92 complaints from the public reporting such illegal exchanges in various organisations.

“Some private individuals (26) and 21 public servants (mainly from post office and banking sector) were nabbed with huge amounts of new currency. Since the restrictions on individuals in terms of withdrawals of new currency, investigation is to find out how they could come in possession of such amounts,’’ Mr. Dayal said.

The 84 cases, which also include seven preliminary enquiries relate to fraudulent exchange of demonetised notes at commercial banks, co-operative banks, post offices, railways and insurance company.

The CBI claimed that it was ensured that every information related to such violation of laws should be entertained and examined and if required, cases should be registered.

CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma had asked the agency’s officers to give top priority to demonetisation-related cases, Mr. Dayal said. The teams investigating these cases have been instructed to complete their investigations within the set time frame.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...chidambaram/article20002744.ece?homepage=true

Mr. Chidambaram claimed cash with the public is ₹15 lakh crore and it is increasing and will soon reach the November 2016 level of ₹17 lakh crore.

He said how much cash (money supply) there should be, is a decision of the RBI, not the government.

Mr. Chidambaram claimed that artificial reduction of cash in circulation is one of the reasons for lower demand and lower growth.

“In interest of transparency, government/RBI should release RBI Board’s agenda, background note and (former Governor) Dr. Raghuram Rajan’s note. If government is confident of its decision, why does it fear releasing these documents?,” he asked.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...-has-been-a-slow-recovery/article20000661.ece

“The co-operative banking sector has registered an average deposit growth rate of 18-20% in the past few years. But this time, the growth rate has severely declined. For instance, the deposits in our bank only grew by 2.29%,” said G.S. Ramana Reddy, managing director of the Karnataka State Co-operative Apex Bank.

The only relief the sector has had is that following a long legal battle in the Supreme Court, the RBI has accepted credit of ₹474 crore demonetised currency that co-operative banks in the State had collected before November 14, 2016. The RBI barred the banks from exchanging demonetised currency for new notes on November 14, a week after demonetisation.

“For a start, ₹474 crore was lying idle with us for over 10 months, and this caused a loss of interest to the tune of over ₹20 crore. But more than that, we couldn’t channel these funds for lending, causing a severe liquidity crunch in the first few months after November,” said Mr. Ramana Reddy.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...-terror-financing-jaitley/article20005112.ece

“Security agencies in Chhattisgarh and J&K say insurgents are finding it difficult to carry on their activities”

Demonetisation has had a real impact on the financing of terrorists and insurgents, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday. The number of people throwing stones in Jammu and Kashmir has reduced drastically since the note ban.

“The reduction in terror financing [due to demonetisation] is clear,” Mr. Jaitley said in an interview to Doordharshan. “All security agencies in Chhattisgarh and J&K say that insurgents face a shortage of cash and so are finding it difficult to carry on their activities. In J&K, this was very clear. Since the demonetisation, the number of stone-throwers is almost non-existent. Where 5,000 people would come, now barely 100 come. In Chhattisgarh, the situation is similar.”

Black money
Mr. Jaitley said the government was not planning to introduce another window for declaration of black money. He did not categorically say that the ₹2,000 note would remain. Instead, he said a decision would be taken after discussions between the Reserve Bank of India and the government.

“Demonetisation was the beginning of a process to change the way we do things,” Mr Jaitley said. “The older way was not working… Up to now, if we were to buy something, then it was with black money. If we did business, then we made two types of account books. We tried in every way to not pay tax. If we need to create a strong army, help the poor, where do we get resources? And if the person with resources hides it, then it is injustice that it can’t be used for the poor. So we needed to change this.

Cash-GDP ratio
The Finance Minister said how he would like the RBI to further reduce the cash to GDP ratio from the current 9%. The ratio had fallen from 12% pre-demonetisation. “There is no need to be reliant on cash. Even if it becomes 6%, the formal economy and digitisation would increase. After demonetisation, the number of people putting their money in mutual funds increased and the number of people buying insurance increased.”

He said the weaknesses of cash were many, since it was used as an instrument for bribery and to finance terrorism.

“It’s not as if this would all end with one announcement from the Prime Minister. But it was a step that brought the issue to the centre stage,” Mr. Jaitley said. “Taxpayers’ numbers increased, digital modes of payments increased and terrorist funding was squeezed. The start towards this has been very successful.”

Opposition criticism
Mr. Jaitley also took on the Opposition for its criticism of demonetisation. The real corruption, he said, took place under their leadership. “The people who called it ‘loot,’ I think they use the term wrongly. Loot is associated with corruption. Corruption happened in 2G, in CWG and in coal block allocations. They could call that loot. But to say that putting a stop to black money and encouraging white transactions is loot, I think they don’t understand what loot means.”

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said on Tuesday that demonetisation was ‘organised loot and legalised plunder.’

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...atch-15600-crore-to-state/article20000291.ece

A year after announcement, demonetisation has apparently gone into oblivion. The people stood in long queues in front of banks to deposit the specified notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 denomination The people deposited as much as ₹72,000 crore worth of scrapped notes. But, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is yet to despatch about ₹15,600 crore to Andhra Pradesh.

The ATMs ran out of cash on most of the days in November last. The situation did not improve till January 2017. The State government initiated a slew of initiatives to tide over the crisis. The question that remains unanswered now is: how many such e-initiatives still have public acceptance and are in usage.

Aadhaar-enabled payment system is one such initiative. It brought laurels to Babu A, who served as Krishna District collector then. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu showered praises on him for his idea, at the Collector’s conference. The government even encouraged shopkeepers and business establishments to switch over the Aadhaar-enabled payment systems.

The State government even provided mobile phones to poor, who did not own the phones, to encourage digital transactions. It also launched ‘AP ePurse’, an app for digital transactions. Mr. Naidu headed panel on digital payments constituted by the Union government.

ATMs

Demonetisation has brought startling fact to the fore. Only 5,900 of the 8,036 ATMs across the State as on November 21 were active. In fact, there is no correlation in the data of the Reserve Bank and the SLBC on ATMs. There are 8,309 ATMs as on June 30 as per the SLBC. The RBI, however, says there are 9,199, including 1,611 private banks’ ATMs. Similarly, the SLBC says there were 7143 ATMs as on March 31, 2015. The RBI says there were 8,438 ATMs, including 1,493 of private banks.

Only 16 per cent of the Jan Dhan accounts opened in Andhra Pradesh were in active use in the State. This startling fact came to light a year ago. There are 45,41,918 Jan Dhan accounts in rural areas, while 35,46,935 accounts were opened in urban areas taking the total to 80,88,853 accounts as on December 7, 2016.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...-sitharaman/story-fhnwoXYQaoeNkQGpSVH5YP.html

The government has unearthed cash transaction of up to Rs 4,000 crore by a fake company which had more than 2,000 bank accounts, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Chennai on Wednesday.

“We have spoken in public about operation of fake shell companies. One such fake company had about 2,000 bank accounts,” she said.

The company did not disclose any detail of how it generated income. But it came to light that the company had 2,000 bank accounts, she said.

The minister said the company used the government’s December 30, 2016 deadline asking people to deposit old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in bank accounts, to convert black money to white.

“This incident has been unearthed. Now the company has been shut”, she said.

The SIT, headed by former Supreme Court judge MB Shah,is responsible for investigating cases of black money stashed abroad through coordination of various members from Reserve Bank of India, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate , the Central Bureau of Investigation,the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and DRI.

On criticism that the note ban caused hardship to people, she said the Centre had given an opportunity to those with unaccounted cash or assets to declare it on or before September 30, 2016.

“You were given a chance to declare unaccountable cash or assets if you had.A deadline was also given to them (those who had unaccounted cash to deposit) before September 30, 2016. After withdrawal of Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes only incidents of such fake companies came out”, she said.

“They (critics) ask what you have achieved by implementing demonetisation. What do incidents like these mean?”, she asked.

Sitharaman rued that citizens paying tax regularly did not question the government for lack of services, despite having the power to do so.

“We do not have the boldness to question the government if there is deficiency in services like not laying proper roads or not providing water supply despite regularly paying taxes”, she said.

Stating that “terror funding” has come down, largely due to the note ban, she said some forces in the Kashmir valley used to fund young women to take part in protests and pelt stones

“They have been doing this kind of thing based on support by a country which is against us. Now with implementation of demonetisation this has been removed”, she said.

Similar was the case with Maoists, she said.

She said Maoists “have been threatening road contractors for some commission (in Maoist-hit areas). They claim they are at war against India. But today they are also facing difficulties due to demonetisation”, she said.

The minister was here to take part in a conference, observing the first anniversary of demonetisation as ‘anti black money day’, organised by the BJP traders wing.

 

[ashok321]

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...anned-notes/story-Ib4ISqdkwZZzwPLJbmqrDK.html

National Investigation Agency announced a seizure of Rs 36.34 crore in demonetised currency in Delhi on the eve of first anniversary of demonetisation.
india Updated: Nov 13, 2017 00:05 IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi

NIA seized demonetized currency of more than Rs 36 crore and arrested nine people in this connection with terror funding case in Jammu and Kashmir.(Arun Sharma / HT Photo)

On a hot June day almost five months ago, investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched an operation targeted at stopping terror groups active in the Kashmir Valley from exchanging currency invalidated in last November’s demonetisation drive. The agency’s investigations had revealed an ongoing attempt to do that.

It had interrogated some suspects and informers and found reason to believe that “some of the persons and entities (under the scanner) were sitting over a pile of demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 that they intended to illegally exchange with valid currency as the window provided for conversion was long over”, according to a senior NIA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. And thus began an undercover operation to draw the demonetised money out in the open. It culminated on November 7 with the NIA announcing recovery of Rs 36.34 crore in demonetised currency notes and the arrest of nine persons in the national Capital.

“In terms of scale, it can be termed as the first major undercover operation of the agency,” said the official, adding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US does it on regular basis in terror and drug cases and has a legal framework for mounting undercover operations.

The NIA doesn’t, although it has been demanding the same from the government, which, last year, indicated that it could consider working on a change in the law to allow this.

The NIA’s operation in this instance revolved around an undercover agent — agency officials will only say this person was working on behalf of the NIA — pretending to be a money launderer. Through its channels of informers, NIA facilitated a meeting between Srinagar resident Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh, who wanted to exchange a significant amount in demonetised notes, and the agent.

Over the course of the next few months, the agent had many meetings with Sheikh, who, it turned out, was in touch with others who claimed they could help in the process of exchanging the demonetised notes. The network included Kolkata resident Mohammad Rafiq Ali Sheikh and Mumbai-based Deepak Toprani. It also included a prominent Srinagar-based hotelier whom the NIA official refused to name because he is currently under the agency’s scanner.

Toprani, 60, presented himself as a former director general of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence but NIA sleuths allege the Mumbai resident is basically just another money launderer.

Two other Mumbai residents, Vinod Shreedhar Shetty and Jaswinder Singh, were also involved. “Toprani had formed a trust with two Delhi residents, Mange Ram and Pradeep Chauhan. The trust was being used as conduit for illegal exchange of demonetised currency with new currency. Toprani works on percentage basis,” claimed the NIA official mentioned in the first instance.

According to the official, one of Mange Ram’s associates was a Delhi police head constable, Bhagwan Singh. NIA’s agent discovered that Chauhan was actually an aggregator who was collecting demonetised cash from various sources over several months by paying a percentage of the value (because the cash was worthless, and its holders desperate to exchange it, they were willing to let Chauhan have it for a fraction of its original value).

According to the NIA official, Bhagwan Singh was the custodian of all this cash, which was stored at Chauhan’s residence at Sainik Farms in Delhi. Shetty and Jaswinder Singh were supposed to help Chauhan exchange the cash, the agent found out.

A rendezvous was fixed at the YMCA building on Jai Singh Road near Jantar Mantar on November 6 for this. The cash came in four vehicles, in 28 cartons. By then, the agent had blown the whistle and an NIA team was waiting to seize the cash and arrest everyone involved. “Five currency-counting machines were installed in the NIA headquarters to account for all the recovered cash. Counting started on the night of November 6 and went on till afternoon the next day, only then the agency announced the recovery and arrests,” said the official.

The exact amount of cash turned out to be 36,34,78,500 in old currency notes of 500 and 1,000. “During the undercover operation, the agency meticulously collected evidence against all the accused. We believe it will help us to conclusively prove our case in court,” said the official.

The NIA suspects that the group was probably in touch with executives in private as well as government banks to find a way to exchange the demonetised currency. Questioning of the arrested accused revealed that the group was expecting that could get 30 to 40 per cent of the demonetised currency in valid notes.

NIA is keen on more such undercover operations, said the official. Three years ago, the agency had requested the government to amend the NIA Act, which governs its working, to make undercover operations part of its legal framework. Last year, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said the government is considering it.

“It is the right time for the government to accord sanction to the NIA for carrying out undercover operations by its own officers,” said agency’s former special director general NR Wasan who was with the NIA when the proposal for legal sanction was sent to the government.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.orissapost.com/nia-apprehends-3-men-from-rajasthan-during-ficn-racket-probe/

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi, Nov 12: The NIA has detained three people and recovered gold biscuits weighing 2kg today, and claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of conmen who allegedly cheated many people on the pretext of exchanging fake Indian currency notes (FICN) and smuggled gold.

The NIA said it had handed over Rashid Khan (40), Gagan K Vyas (49) and Iqbal Ahmad Ansari to Rajasthan Police after they were nabbed from Dholpur.

The trio, who were allegedly negotiating with a Bangladeshi FICN smuggler, Darul Sheikh, were apprehended during the agency’s ongoing probe into an FICN racket case emerging from the Malda area of West Bengal, along the India-Bangladesh border.

NIA teams subsequently carried out multiple searches in Mumbai and Kolhapur as part of the morning operation and recovered 20 gold biscuits of 100 grams each, the agency said.

As per initial probe, the central probe agency said it came to light that “an inter-state gang had been active since long in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, and West Bengal”.

They primarily lured people on the pretext of exchanging high-quality FICN or unbilled gold biscuits at attractive rates. They either looted their targets directly or carried out fake police raids with the help of other associates.

The NIA said the gullible targets of these conmen used to leave their money behind and could not even lodge police complaints.

The investigation is on to ascertain more about the three and their alleged accomplices, it said.

 

[Hindustani78]

As many as 37 locations were targeted on Sunday. | Photo Credit: K. Pichumani

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...ransactions/article20377569.ece?homepage=true


The number of locations where simultaneous searches were carried out came down to 37 across Chennai, Coimbatore and Puducherry, while incriminating documents were seized from about 150 other locations over the past three days.

As the searches by the Income Tax department at the properties of jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala and her family members continued for the fourth day on Sunday, investigators said they had recovered documents pertaining to the purchase of assets worth several hundreds of crores of rupees across Tamil Nadu which, they suspect, are benami transactions.

The number of locations where simultaneous searches were carried out came down to 37 across Chennai, Coimbatore and Puducherry, while incriminating documents were seized from about 150 other locations over the past three days.

A senior Income Tax officer involved in ‘Operation Clean Money’ told The Hindu that the objective of the massive exercise was to unearth benami assets. He did not specify details of the cash or gold seized so far. “We have seized documents [hinting at] huge benami assets. It appears that prime properties in Tamil Nadu have been purchased in the names of household staff like car drivers, servants, assistants, etc. and friends or business associates of the main suspects. We will serve notices asking them to explain the source of income [for purchase of these properties] and account for the same,” he said.

The assets not accounted for will be confiscated under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016, the officer said.

'Reports baseless'
Dismissing as ‘baseless’ the reports of bank accounts of shell companies being frozen by the Income Tax department, the officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said such action would be taken, if needed, after the conclusion of the operation.

On the timing of the operation, particularly in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Chennai last week, the official said the investigation wing had been working on the mission for quite some time now.

“We had specific inputs of [suspected] large scale benami transactions involving the family members [of Sasikala] over a period of time. Adequate homework was done before launching the operation, which is one of the biggest in recent times. A large volume of documents has been seized, and more may come out soon. A sizeable number of documents was seized from a house in T. Nagar. The market value of these assets could be several hundreds of crores [of Rupees],” the official said. W

When asked if there was any evidence of foreign investments, the officer said the suspects would be asked to declare their assets in India and abroad.

“If they don’t disclose [their assets] voluntarily, we will invoke the provisions under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. If need be, experts from the Foreign Tax and Tax Research division would be roped in to assist us in the investigation,” he said.

Another officer said the department would officially come out with details of property documents, gold and cash seized in the operation soon. He parried questions on the seizures made in New Delhi and Bengaluru.

'Law will take its own course'
“Going by the quantum and value of the seizures, a clear case of prima facie offence has been established. Now, the law will take its own course,” he said.

Income tax officials raided the farm house of sidelined AIADMK deputy general secretary T.T.V Dhinakaran near Bommayarpalayam in Villupuram district.

 

[Hindustani78]

IAS officer Chohan Doley, who served as labour commissioner, is accused of misappropriation of funds estimated at Rs 121 crore in printing works of the state labour department.
Updated: Nov 14, 2017 18:55 IST

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...inting-scam/story-0yaQv1RUYO7h8R2D8q11OL.html


A senior IAS officer of Assam was arrested on Tuesday for alleged misappropriation of funds estimated at Rs 121 crore in printing works of the state labour department, police said.

The case pertains to 2013 and 2017, during which Chohan Doley served as labour commissioner twice.

Doley, at present the panchayat and rural development secretary, was arrested by the chief minister’s Special Vigilance Cell (SVC).

“We arrested Doley for misappropriation of funds under the Vigilance Case No 9/2017. The scam is estimated at Rs 121 crore and it took place from 2013 to 2017,” SVC Khanindra Kumar Choudhury told PTI in Guwahati.

The case is related to awarding contracts to a private firm for printing leaflets, folders and other such materials of the labour department during the said period, he added.

“Doley was admitted in Down Town Hospital. We picked him up from there, brought him to our office and arrested him. We will produce him before the court,” Choudhury said.

He said the owner of the firm Piyangshu Bairagi has already been arrested.

“Further investigation is on. At this point of time, we cannot say anything more,” he added when asked about possibility of more arrests in the coming days.

In one of the biggest crackdown against corruption in recent times, the SVC has arrested 22 civil services officials in last six days in connection with the cash-for-job scam in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) and is looking for three more officials, who are evading arrests.

On November 7, Directorate of Information and Public Relations director Ranjit Gogoi was arrested by the SVC for an alleged Rs 32-crore scam in putting up of publicity hoardings of government schemes during Congress regime.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...ur-arrested-in-bihar-hajipur-alcohol-4941782/
By: PTI | Hajipur (bihar) | Published:November 17, 2017 2:46 pm

The seizure of alcohol has come close on heels of death of three persons on account of consuming spurious liquor on last Wednesday night. (Representational purposes/Express)

More than 1000 litres of liquor have been seized and four persons arrested in Vaishali district of Bihar which is witnessing total prohibition since last year. Superintendent of Police, Vaishali, Rakesh Kumar said today “a total of four trucks carrying liquor were seized during raids conducted late last night in Hajipur Town, Vidupur and Mahua police station areas. Drivers of all the vehicles have been arrested”.

“The quantity of liquor that has been seized is more than 1,000 litres. Our estimate is that it could have fetched the suppliers up to Rs one crore in the market”, Kumar said. The seizure of alcohol has come close on heels of death of three persons on account of consuming spurious liquor on last Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, village chowkidar has been removed after it came to light that his brother was allegedly involved in the illicit trade in alcohol which caused the tragedy, the SP said. Eleven police personnel, including Station House Officer (SHO) of Barachi Sahayak police station, have been send to the Police Lines on charge of dereliction of duty, he added.

The trader of the brew has been arrested, he said. Sale and consumption of liquor has been banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government since April last year.