Banking data leads taxmen to corrupt officers
NEW DELHI: Banking data gathered post demonetisation is being used to launch a crackdown on corrupt bureaucrats.
In one such case, an income tax search was conducted on Tuesday on a forest service officer in Odisha who did not file his response to the information uploaded by the department on its website, where bank deposits in his accounts were shown to the tune of Rs 1.48 crore.
However, after searches on his premises at several places in the state, I-T officials gathered more bank passbooks where deposits were found to have exceeded Rs 1.95 crore, all in the accounts belonging to the official in question and those of his family members.
A top official of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex cadre controlling authority of the income tax, told TOI that more such actions are planned against suspect bureaucrats as the prime minister's office (PMO) is keen to cleanse the system and eradicate corruption from bureaucracy across the country.
The PMO has stressed on a coordinated action by the I-T, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI against corrupt civil servants who have allegedly amassed huge assets through corrupt practices, the CBDT official said. Earlier, the approach of the tax department was to recover tax on unaccounted money from corrupt officials.
However, post-demonetisation, the I-T department has been engaging the CBI and the ED with details of transaction of unaccounted money and the case is immediately registered by the CBI or the police as applicable.
The registration of an FIR helps the ED to book a case against the accused under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act and attach assets preventing them from selling off their assets.
A case in point is that of former CBI director A P Singh against whom the CBI this week registered a case on a complaint filed by ED director Karnal Singh.
Though the complaint was filed by Karnal Singh sometime ago, the agency took time in booking the ex-CBI director under anti-corruption laws for want of decisive evidence.
The CBDT official said I-T has acquired crucial data on large deposits made by several entities, including bureaucrats and their associates, which are currently being analysed by the agency and cases will be surveyed soon.
Already the I-T department has registered more than 200 cases of unaccounted income and assets and attached properties under benami trasactions act. Show cause notices have been issued in hundreds of other cases for attachment of their properties.
On Monday, the I-T department had served defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari and his lawyer a provisional attachment order with regards to their properties in Dubai and London. This was for the first time that the I-T department had moved to restrain an accused from sale of his properties in a foreign country.
In one such case, an income tax search was conducted on Tuesday on a forest service officer in Odisha who did not file his response to the information uploaded by the department on its website, where bank deposits in his accounts were shown to the tune of Rs 1.48 crore.
However, after searches on his premises at several places in the state, I-T officials gathered more bank passbooks where deposits were found to have exceeded Rs 1.95 crore, all in the accounts belonging to the official in question and those of his family members.
A top official of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex cadre controlling authority of the income tax, told TOI that more such actions are planned against suspect bureaucrats as the prime minister's office (PMO) is keen to cleanse the system and eradicate corruption from bureaucracy across the country.
The PMO has stressed on a coordinated action by the I-T, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI against corrupt civil servants who have allegedly amassed huge assets through corrupt practices, the CBDT official said. Earlier, the approach of the tax department was to recover tax on unaccounted money from corrupt officials.
However, post-demonetisation, the I-T department has been engaging the CBI and the ED with details of transaction of unaccounted money and the case is immediately registered by the CBI or the police as applicable.
The registration of an FIR helps the ED to book a case against the accused under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act and attach assets preventing them from selling off their assets.
A case in point is that of former CBI director A P Singh against whom the CBI this week registered a case on a complaint filed by ED director Karnal Singh.
Though the complaint was filed by Karnal Singh sometime ago, the agency took time in booking the ex-CBI director under anti-corruption laws for want of decisive evidence.
The CBDT official said I-T has acquired crucial data on large deposits made by several entities, including bureaucrats and their associates, which are currently being analysed by the agency and cases will be surveyed soon.
Already the I-T department has registered more than 200 cases of unaccounted income and assets and attached properties under benami trasactions act. Show cause notices have been issued in hundreds of other cases for attachment of their properties.
On Monday, the I-T department had served defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari and his lawyer a provisional attachment order with regards to their properties in Dubai and London. This was for the first time that the I-T department had moved to restrain an accused from sale of his properties in a foreign country.
