I-T dept to seek US help to validate Rs 28,000 crore seized American bonds

NEW DELHI: Income-tax officials have seized documents believed to be US treasury bonds worth Rs 28,000 crore during a raid on the premises of a businessman and a commodity broker in Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu. The officials are verifying the documents found with the broker and are expected to seek the help of their counterpart in the US government.

"The documents are being verified and appropriate action will follow," said a finance ministry official. These bonds will also be sent to the tax department's forensic laboratory in Mumbai to ascertain their genuineness.

The investigation wing in Chennai has approached the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to make a formal request to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) department of the US to verify the bonds.

Individual Indian investors are allowed to invest only up to $2,00,000 in foreign financial assets. The bonds were seized from Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu after the I-T sleuths raided the premises of the businessman, acting on a suspicious report generated by the Financial Intelligence Unit. I-T officials from Chennai and Coimbatore are now looking at his bank accounts and will soon send a detailed appraisal report.

Senior I-T officials said the department wants all the information in this regard to be verified before it initiates evasion-related action.

The businessman is also likely to be questioned in this regard by the I-T officials, a department official said.

The raids were carried out on the residence of TM Ramalingam at Upputhurai Palayam village on December 31 night. Ramalingam is involved in the business of groundnut peeling equipment and used to make frequent trips to countries like Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The I-T action followed Ramalingam's reported application to the petroleum and chemicals ministries, seeking sanction to set up a Rs 1,000 crore crude oil refinery in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu.