New Delhi: The Income Tax department has decided to begin prosecution action against those having "substantial" amounts in their bank accounts in HSBC's Geneva branch. The department has now written to the Finance Ministry to suggest a benchmark for funds held on the basis of which the I-T department can initiate legal action for tax evasion and tax theft. Top sources said a benchmark of about Rs 5 crore is being mulled for initiating court proceedings against those Indians whose names have figured on the secret list of HSBC Geneva, supplied to India by the French government.
All others below the benchmark amount, the sources said, could be penalised under I-T laws and the amount can be realised from them by way of raising a comprehensive tax demand. The sources said a number of individuals or entities who have figured in these accounts, also searched and probed by the I-T department, held small balances ranging from few thousands to lakhs of rupees and, hence, a policy has to be made as to how many will be prosecuted and how many penalised under tax theft laws.
"A policy framework will be decided and action would be taken on a case-to-case basis," the sources said. The I-T department, through the Finance Ministry, has already approached Swiss revenue authorities for banking data of certain individuals after investigations showed some of them reportedly had other accounts under fictitious names.
The department has already begun a country-wide I-T assessment of
03:53 PM, Nov 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Income Tax department, probing the secret list of account holders in the Geneva branch of HSBC bank, has approached Swiss revenue authorities for banking data of certain individuals after investigations showed some of them reportedly had other accounts under fictitious names. The department, which approached the Finance Ministry and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in this regard recently, has initiated the step in order to...
11:30 AM, Nov 18, 2012
New Delhi: India Against Corruption (IAC) activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal has refused to accept the government's statement that explained that a probe had been initiated into the information provided by the government of France regarding several Indians who had accounts in foreign banks. Speaking to reporters, Kejriwal said he had five questions for the government. "Do you agree that the names and the amounts, that we disclosed, are there in the...
06:44 PM, Nov 10, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Saturday countered India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal's claims that it is not acting on the alleged black money list handed over by the French government in 2010. In a statement, the government said that the information received from the French government had been analysed and investigations were being carried out by different authorities under the Income Tax Act. "Information was received in June,...
04:19 PM, Nov 10, 2012
Congress MP Annu Tandon had rubbished all the allegations made by Arvind Kejriwal against her saying they are completely baseless and malicious. "I deny any such rubbish and whatever he is talking, I don't know about any such thing," she said. ...
08:54 PM, Nov 09, 2012
Hyderabad: In a setback to companies owned by Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the High Court on Wednesday imposed exemplary cost of Rs 1 lakh each to three miscellaneous petitions filed by Jagati Publications, Janani Infra and Indira Television Limited relating to a case of freezing of certain accounts by the CBI. It directed the company to pay the costs to AP State Legal Services Authority within seven days....
12:48 PM, Aug 09, 2012
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Monday froze three bank accounts of Essar Oil Ltd (EOL) in Jamnagar following Gujarat High Court directives to expedite recovery of over Rs 8,000 crore in sales tax dues. "Three bank accounts of EOL have been frozen in Jamnagar district as part of the due recovery process," a top finance department functionary said. The division bench of Justice PB Majmudar and Justice Mohinder Pal last...
09:41 PM, Jul 09, 2012
Patna: A total of Rs 1,813 is lying unclaimed in a bank account that India's first president, Rajendra Prasad, opened a few months before he died. Rajendra Prasad opened his account in Punjab National Bank's Exhibition Road branch in Patna on October 24, 1962, a few months before he passed away, said a bank official. For 50 long years, the Punjab National Bank has kept the account alive, the bank...
06:06 PM, Jul 04, 2012
Patna: A total of Rs 1,813 is lying unclaimed in a bank account that India's first president, Rajendra Prasad, opened a few months before he died. Rajendra Prasad opened his account in Punjab National Bank's Exhibition Road branch in Patna on October 24, 1962, a few months before he passed away, said a bank official. For 50 long years, the Punjab National Bank has kept the account alive, the bank...
06:06 PM, Jul 04, 2012
Mumbai: In an ambitious move, the Finance Ministry has asked banks to ensure that at least one person per family across the country has a bank account in the next six months. As per the 2011 census, only three in five families have a bank account in the country, or 40 per cent of the families are not in the banking system, a senior Finance Ministry official said. "During the...
12:35 AM, Jun 18, 2012
Washington: Bharatiya Janata Party would make public the names of 800 Indian account holders in Swiss Banks if it comes into power in the 2014 general elections, senior party leader Yashwant Sinha has said. "Of course, we will do. Of course, we will do," Sinha told a small audience at an event organised by a recently formed Washington-based Indian American think-tank Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS). "Will...
05:53 PM, May 30, 2012
New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday summoned YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy in connection with the disproportionate assets case. This is the first time that the MP has been summoned. Jagan had moved a petition in Andhra Pradesh High Court requesting exemption since he is not available due to the on-going election campaigning but the court rejected his petition. Jagan now has to appear before the CBI for questioning on...
06:14 PM, May 23, 2012
HYDERABAD: Tightening its noose around Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddys neck, the CBI on Tuesday reportedly froze the bank accounts of his three companies - Jagathi Publications Pvt Limited, which publishes Saakshi Telugu newspaper, Indira TV, promoter of Saakshi TV, and Janani Infrastructure Ltd, which owns the premises used by both Jagathi Publications and Indira Television.The charge against the three companies is that huge amounts of money were invested...
11:19 AM, May 09, 2012
New Delhi: The CBI has frozen the accounts of Sakshi TV and other media houses owned by Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy. This as part of the probe against the Andhra Pradesh leader in an alleged disproportionate assets case. The CBI has approached banks for freezing accounts of Jagati Publications and Indira TV owned by Jagan. The move by the agency comes a day after a special CBI court in...
01:29 AM, May 09, 2012
New Delhi: In a development that will boost the fight against black money menace, Switzerland has agreed to provide details of secret bank accounts of individuals sought by India even on the basis of limited information. Under a mutual agreement reached on April 20 between the two countries, Switzerland has agreed to give liberal interpretation to the provisions concerning identities of Indian citizens. "... it is sufficient if the requesting...
03:07 PM, Apr 30, 2012
Mumbai: Tax authorities have warned top Indian carrier Jet Airways its bank accounts will be frozen if it does not clear outstanding dues of about 690 million rupees, local media reported on Sunday. "They have 24 hours to make the payment, failing which their accounts will be frozen," SK Goel, chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, was quoted by the Business Standard newspaper as saying. In a...
01:31 AM, Mar 12, 2012
New Delhi: Two foreigners were arrested in the capital for allegedly hacking the bank account of a confectionery company in New Delhi and fraudulently withdrawing about Rs 16 lakh. A laptop, mobile phone, fake South African passport and Indian Visa and other materials were recovered from Evans Ukah Mendi (34), who is from Cameroon, and William Tambo (37), hailing from South Africa, police said on Monday. On February 29, a...
09:33 PM, Mar 05, 2012
New Delhi: The bank accounts of national career Air India were on Thursday frozen for not paying service tax. The bank accounts were frozen by the Central Board of Excise and Customs for non payment of service tax amounting up to Rs 25 crore. However, Air India has claimed that negotiations are on to sort out the issue. This is the second time in two months that Central Board of...
10:27 PM, Jan 12, 2012
New Delhi: In order to guard against possible leakage of names figuring in the secret bank accounts lists it has received from foreign shores, the CBDT has ordered the IT department to obtain a signed undertaking from any government entity or department who demands the data for their own probe. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) fears that if these names are leaked and they are publicised, global financial...
12:30 PM, Jan 08, 2012
New Delhi: Scam-tainted Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society of Mumbai was on Friday allowed by the Supreme Court to open a bank account in a nationalised bank for raising money for day-to-day functioning. A Bench comprising justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad gave conditional permission to the Society directing it to submit monthly statement of the accounts to CBI. The order was passed after the Society filed an affidavit stating that...
07:56 PM, Dec 09, 2011
