Black money list has useless names: SIT

I-T halves black money list; to focus on 300 entities

Update: 2014-11-07 04:56 GMT
The SIT found and reported that there was no amount shown in almost 289 HSBC Geneva entries, while 122 of them were repeated twice in the same list.

New Delhi: The special investigation team (SIT) on blackmoney has found that less than half of the HSBC Bank’s list of over 600 accounts did not have any money while more than hundred names were a repeat, hampering the possibility of any action against them.

The income-tax department is now mulling prosecution against 300 entities figuring in the list of 628 entries in  the HSBC Geneva list given to the Supreme Court recently,  official sources said.

The SIT found and reported that there was no amount shown in almost 289 HSBC Geneva entries, while 122 of them were repeated twice in the same list.

“The SIT found that the biggest impediment in taking  action against the people listed in this particular lot was  that there were no details about the operations of these  accounts. It was not reflected in the list as to when these  accounts were opened and what was their transaction history,”  the sources said.

The report of the SIT, headed by retired Supreme Court  Judge M.B. Shah with Justice (retd) Arijit Pasayat as its vice-chairman, said that the tax officials had undertaken 150  search or survey operations against those named in the list  but prosecution proceedings were yet not final against them.

“Now that this list has been handed over to the Supreme Court and the cases are nearing time barring stage by the end  of this fiscal, the department is mulling to launch  prosecution in close to 300 cases,” they said.

The SIT has also sought “renegotiation” of various tax  information exchange treaties which India has with various  countries and tax haven nations in order to effectively curb  the menace of illegal funds stashed abroad.

In the report submitted to the government early this  year, the SIT has cited the areas of concern for the  investigating and enforcement agencies which are tasked to  keep a check on these ‘black’ funds and illegal economy.

“The SIT has asked the government to take up  renegotiation of the existing Double Taxation Avoidance  Agreements (DTAAs) and the Tax Information Exchange Treaties  (TIEAs) in context of some specific countries.

“This is a time-consuming affair but an early start would  help the country in accomplishing its desire to crack down on  illegal funds kept overseas by Indians,” official sources said  quoting the SIT report.

As a consequence of this specific request, the government  told the SIT that the finance ministry has already begun the  exercise in this direction.

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