Cut off source of black money in India: Pasayat

NEW DELHI: The vice-chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT on black money has asked agencies to target the ‘source of matrix of black money’, which he says is in India.

While delivering the keynote address on the foundation day of the ED, Justice Arijit Pasayat said, “If we cut the black money here, we can cut it from going (abroad).” He asked investigators “to match their (offenders’) brilliant devilious intelligence to catch them, which itself is a challenge”.

ED is currently probing sensitive money laundering cases against Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi among others. The retired SC judge said Indian investigators should work in such a way that their probe shames those evading taxes.

“That’s the only way we can show to the world that India lacks nothing. Not certainly the courage to deal with these criminals and whether they call it money laundering or whether they call it black money. We will blacken their faces,” he said.

He also asserted that a lot of foreign countries which were earlier not cooperating with India in the black money probe have now started cooperating. The retired SC judge advocated that tax defaulters and white collar criminals, who misuse laws here, should be targeted recommending violation of state tax laws like VAT a predicate offence under anti-money laundering laws.

Sharing startling figures from the SIT probe, Pasayat said that 97,000 Indians are directors in more than 20 companies, while some 2,000 persons are directors in more than 1,000 firms. He said this is in gross violation of Companies Act which allows one person to be director only in 20 companies.

“To our horror, we found there are some small rooms in Kolkata and Delhi which have offices of more than 20 firms.” On Panama papers, the SIT vice-chairman said “verification is being carried out of all the individuals and entities”.