Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) should use the penalising power judiciously to deal with any non-compliance of the laid-down rules.
Speaking at the Enforcement Directorate Day, he said the interest of the larger public takes a hit when people indulge in non-compliance and hence, the revenue department and the ED have a key role to play to catch offenders.
The government, the Finance Minister stressed, trusts its citizens and allows them to deal in foreign exchange.
“There is an expectation of compliance and in the event of non-compliance, there is this power of penalising that the ED has. This power has to be expeditiously used whenever violations are detected,” Mr. Jaitley said.
He expressed hope that the enforcement agency will strictly implement law and help the exchequer raise legitimate revenue.
As many as 8-9 lakh registered companies are not filing annual returns with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and are a potential source of money laundering, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Saturday.
Speaking at the Enforcement Day event here, Mr. Adhia said the task force set up by the PMO is monitoring these companies every 15 days.
“There are 15 lakh registered companies... as many as 8 —9 lakh are not filing annual returns with the corporate affairs ministry. They have become a potential threat for money laundering,” he said.
He said further that if companies do not file returns after getting registered with the MCA, then these are used as potential source of money laundering.
“We have given notices to some of them,” he said, adding that the task force co chaired by him and the MCA Secretary is keeping a close watch on them.
According to Adhia, trade based money laundering is also getting prominent these days as was witnessed in the Rs 6,000-crore Bank of Baroda case.
In a major crackdown on domestic shell companies, the government in February had decided to take “harsh punitive” action, including freezing of their bank accounts used to launder money or evade taxes.
(With IANS inputs)
