New Delhi: After recovery of around Rs 3500 crore from tax evaders who held Swiss bank accounts, the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), is expecting I-T department to recover another Rs 6500 crore. The recovery will be made by March 31st as tax penalty, from 300-odd Indians who held accounts in Swiss banks.
The SIT vice-chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat told Times of India, “Under the supervision of the SIT, the I-T department has already recovered around Rs 3,500 crore from some of the account holders. As these are old accounts, the assessment proceedings have to be complete by March 31 and we expect the I-T department to net another Rs 6,500 crore by that time.”
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He agreed to the fact that the amount recovered from the data provided by the French government is only a miniscule portion of the total number of foreign accounts held by Indians abroad to park illegal money. However, he said, that now the team has gone public to seek information from all sources about Indians holding such accounts.
Justice Pasayat further told to the daily that half of the 628 Swiss bank accounts, information about which was given to India by France, was held either by Non-Resident Indians or were legitimate accounts.
Hence, he said, “Rs 10,000 crore is expected to be recovered from the rest on completion of assessment proceedings.”
Also read: 1195 Indians hold accounts worth over Rs 25k crore: Report
Justice Pasayat further raised concerns that in India, where a simple offence like cheating is considered a prosecutable offence under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code, the tax evaders are allowed to go scot-free if they agree to pay after being caught up. He said that this is the reason that why SIT has recommended making tax evasion a prosecutable offense. This will also mean that now the tax evaders can face jail term if it is proved that they deliberately evaded payment of taxes.
In its report to the Supreme Court, the team has also expressed serious concerns about false invoicing in import-export business and told that this is the major route from where black money is generated in the country.
Also Read: 6 banks hit by fake import remittance scam of Rs 15000 crore, seek EOW probe
Due to stricter norms in scrutiny of invoices, however; a few businessmen have still come out voluntarily and paid upto Rs 500 crore as penalty, he said.
Justice Pasayat also revealed that the customs and excise department has also initiated proceedings for recovery of Rs 15000 crore in tax evasion just through mis-invoicing. This was done under the supervision of SIT only. These settlement proceedings will be completed within a fixed time frame and money is expected to flow back within a year.
In another recommendation initiated by the SIT to the government, it has said that the latter should set up a dedicated unit along the lines of Trade Transparency Unit set up by the US to examine mismatch between India's import-export data with that of other countries.
This will help the government to know the quantum of black money drained off outside the country through false invoicing.
The SIT vice-chairman said under its guidance, the Enforcement Directorate has attached property worth Rs 4,000 crore from persons who generated ill-gotten money through bogus chit funds and offences under Prevention of Corruption Act in West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
"Practically, we expect government agencies to net around Rs 30,000 crore within a year," he said.
