Monday, August 13, 2012

I-T dept to press money laundering charges in HSBC case

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/article3757477.ece

The Income Tax department has decided to include the offence of money laundering in its soon to be filed charge sheet against individuals named in the classified HSBC list, for stashing illegal funds.
The department in its probe has found that the illegal funds were laundered in many cases which can be categorised as “criminal proceeds of crime”.
The stringent and criminal provisions of the PMLA can ensure attachment of properties of the accused and handing down of strict punishment by courts.
The I-T department is also particularly wary about the recent disclosure made by a US Senate panel that had accused HSBC of exposing the American and Indian financial systems to various terror financing, money laundering and drug trafficking activities due to its poor risk control systems.
In an official statement earlier this week, the Finance Ministry had said that the Income Tax department has begun assessment proceedings in “cases related to HSBC accounts”.
India has reportedly obtained data of over 700 HSBC accounts from French government channels.
In 80 cases till now, the department has detected undisclosed income of Rs 438 crore and taxes of Rs 135 crore have been realised so far.

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