The UPA government has been facing a lot of flak for not doing enough to unearth the black money kept by Indians in banks abroad. Sheela Bhatt reports.
;The entire INDIA bloc, led by Rahul Gandhi, was against the bonds and they wanted the old system of cut money to rule over politics once again;
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of "lacking will" to recover the black money stashed in foreign banks.
Amid the growing chorus against black money and the government's efforts to pull the plug, Union Law Minster M Veerappa Moily has suggested Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to completely overhaul the tax administration.
Manish Sabharwal tackles 5 criticisms of demonetisation.
The Budget has proposed a Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill.
As the heat turns on the government on the issue of black money, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Thursday said it would suggest to the finance ministry ways to track and control illicit money.
He challenged political parties to face the polls with the issue.
Perhaps never in the history of independent India has one pillar of the Constitution implicitly castigated another pillar -- the executive, in this case -- as heavily as the Supreme Court has done this time.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said the government should disclose names of all Indians who have stashed black money in foreign banks and demanded that these money be brought back to the country and 'redistributed' among the poor.
The court on September 3 asked the SIT to submit its fresh report.
In spite of the judges questioning the difficulty in revealing the names of those under the scanner, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium did not reveal the information.
The government on Thursday insisted in the Lok Sabha that it had never claimed that all the black money stashed abroad would be brought back within 100 days even as the opposition continued to target it over the issue.
Apex court also expressed its dismay that the government's probe into the issue of black money was focused only on the case involving Pune stud owner Hasan Ali Khan.
Attacking the United Progressive Alliance government on the issue of black money and price rise, Samajwadi Party on Tuesday alleged that the government indulged in corruption.
It follows a similar deal agreed earlier this month between Germany and the Swiss authorities.
Rejecting the contention of the Directorate that it has been exempted from making disclosures under the Right to Information Act, the Commission has held all such matters now investigated by the Enforcement Directorate come within the definition of allegations of corruption and, hence, should be disclosed.
Former apex court judge M B Shah will also be member of the SIT.
Government on Monday said Rs 4,147 crore or Rs 41.47 billion has been disclosed under the black money compliance window.
Sources said that the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has come across quite a few cases where GDR route could have been used for round-tripping of funds in the name of capital-raising activities of listed companies from abroad.
The minister said any declaration made under the law will be protected
As government makes effort to bring illicit money stashed abroad, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday asked the I-T department to focus its effort on unearthing 'quite large' black money within the country as well.
According to the latest shareholding pattern of Dabur, Pradip Burman, who is part of the promoter group, holds 0.02 per cent stake in the company.
The first high-level meeting of the Special Investigation Team on the issue of black money and special probe into cases of unaccounted funds stashed away abroad by Indians will be held in New Delhi on June 4.
A CBTR pertains to transfer of funds through various channels abroad.
To curb the black money problem, Jaitley said that India would be entering into bilateral pacts with Switzerland and other countries for automatic exchange of tax information.
India has been probing hundreds of black money cases.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the new banking cash transaction tax imposed this year has started yielding results by helping authorities keep a track on black money.
The absence of criminal legal treaties between India and tax haven nations have been cited by probe agencies working in the SIT on black money as one of the major impediments in initiating steps to bring back illegal funds stashed abroad by Indians.
The larger amount of black money either goes into domestic real estate or bullion, or is round-tripped back into India anyway.
"Please guide those around you on increased cash-less transactions. Corruption and black money adversely affects the progress of our nation," he said.
Replying to a query, whether the government has made any assessment of black money stashed by Indians in foreign countries, Jaitley said there is no official estimation of that.
However, India's black money loss of $123 billion in 10 years is far less that China, which according to the report suffered a loss of $2.74 trillion during the same period (2001 to 2010), followed by Mexico ($476 billion), Malaysia ($285 billion), Saudi Arabia ($201 billion), Russia ($152 billion), the Philippines ($138 billion) and Nigeria ($ 129 billion).
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party for failing to bring back black money within 100 days of power, All India Congress Committee leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that administration was "an art that required patience and seriousness" and the BJP lacked the abilities.
After social media outrage over a Budget proposal making it mandatory to get tax clearance certificates for going abroad, the government on Sunday clarified that the proposed amendment is not for all, and only those accused of financial irregularities or having substantial tax arrears need such clearance. The finance ministry, in the Finance Bill, 2024, has proposed to add the reference of the Black Money Act, 2015, to the list of Acts, under which any person should clear his liabilities to obtain the tax clearance certificate.
Today, the single most popular route of laundering is the stock market platform, notes Debashis Basu.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Wednessay said the people would like to see Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi as a "permanent" prime minister if he meets the demands for bringing back black money stashed abroad and eradicating corruption.
Clever wordplay does not change the fact that the government is going pretty easy on some tax offenders, says Arup Roychoudhury.
Noted jurist Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday accused in the Supreme Court the National Democratic Alliance government and the previous United Progressive Alliance dispensation of failure to bring back black money stashed abroad and criticised leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the issue.
The a/c holder will have to mention the date of opening of foreign a/c.
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