I-T dept unearths syndicate exchanging old notes

Income Tax officials on Thursday said they have post-demonetisation uncovered several cases of fraud including one wherein a syndicate was exchanging old currency notes for 35 per cent commission.

They also found a case in Nagpur where a large sum of money was deposited in a bank account without the knowledge of the account holder and seven accounts were being fraudulently operated by unknown persons to launder Rs 4.25 crore. Central Board of Direct Taxes said some investigations at Mumbai found that a syndicate of ground level operators was converting banned currency notes into legal tenders for a commission. As part of the operation, Income Tax Investigation Directorate sent out a few decoy customers seeking to exchange banned currency notes into new notes.

“The syndicate, acting through its mediator, agreed to the exchange for a 35 per cent commission. The mediator was caught red handed and new currency notes aggregating to Rs 29.5 lakh were seized,” the CBDT said in a press release.

Another investigation into cash deposits in a bank account in Nagpur revealed that the account holder had no knowledge of the existence of her account where Rs 3.29 crore had been deposited after November 8. Enquiries by the Department revealed 6 more such accounts in her and her parents’ names. The 7 accounts were opened and operated by unknown persons to launder cash of Rs 4.25 crore.

“Evidences gathered suggest that copies of PAN and other personal documents that she handed over to a friend few years back were used to fraudulently open these accounts in Kolkata, which were operated to channel suspicious funds to 8 beneficiaries, who are now being investigated,” CBDT said.

In Ahmedabad, the I-T sleuths uncovered 24 cartons in the godown of the transporter meant for transport to Delhi were found. Lorry receipts declared these to contain fire crackers. When the cartons were opened and examined, two cartons were found to conceal currencies in the denomination of Rs 100 aggregating Rs 27 lakhs.

On interrogation, the consigner claimed that the cash was on account of sale of fire crackers being transported to Delhi for purchase of fire crackers. The cash has been seized, CBDT said. Post the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8, the tax department has been extensively conducting search and seizure operations to unearth black money.