Action is taken when illegal remittance come to notice: Jayant Sinha

NEW DELHI: Government today said law enforcement agencies like ED and CBI take appropriate action whenever cases of illegal remittances or blackmoney abroad are noticed, while stressing that tackling the menace is an on-going process.

"Whenever a case involving remittance of black money abroad or illegal remittance of money abroad come to the notice of the government, appropriate action is taken by relevant law enforcement agencies like I-T Department, CBI, DRI, ED etc," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

He further said some of such cases detected in the past indicate use of the medium of trade for such transfers which include over valuation in imports, undervaluation in exports, remitting foreign exchange on the strength of forged import documents, and payments for non-genuine purchases.

"The process of improvement in the systems and mechanisms tackling the issue of black money is an on-going one. The government has taken various effective measures to check the menace of black money," Sinha added.

Meanwhile, in a written reply in Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was no official assessment of black money stashed abroad.

Various non-governmental organisations and economists in the past have indicated widely varying estimates regarding illicit financial flows out of the country.

"Such estimations also appear to lack unanimity and reliability. The subject matter, therefore, does not appear amenable to reliable estimation," Jaitley added.