October 20, 2011
Black money: Pranab Mukherjee says 9,900 Indian overseas accounts under probe
...The government's persistent black money chase has revealed a goldmine of information on tax evaders. The tax authorities have obtained 9,900 leads from foreign banks about suspicious overseas transactions involving Indian citizens. They are also looking at data on another 30,700 domestic transactions for suspected tax evasion and money laundering, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday.
The results are beginning to show as the government has been able to ferret out tens of thousands of crores of black money in the last two years after getting information from foreign entities, working on specific leads and conducting raids...
...Addressing the Economic Editors conference, Mukherjee said, "Due to our sustained efforts in the last two years, both domestically as well as internationally, we have been successful in creating an environment where a regular flow of banking information has started." The investigation wing of the income-tax department unearthed concealed income of Rs.3,014 crore in the last five months of the current fiscal. This was after the sleuths carried out focused searches on the basis of information from abroad. The total black money unearthed by this wing over the last two years stands at Rs.18,750 crore.
Meanwhile, the directorate of international taxation has collected Rs.33,784 crore as taxes from cross border transactions in the last two years.
Information on Indians who have overseas bank accounts has been received under the direct tax avoidance agreement (DTAA) with France. In 69 cases, the taxpayers admitted to unaccounted income of Rs.397.17 crore on which taxes of Rs.30 crore have now been recovered.
