Information on black money abroad has led to penalties: Government

NEW DELHI: Sustained efforts made to obtain information about black money stashed abroad by Indians have yielded results such as imposition of penalties and complaints in criminal courts, government said today.

"Sustained efforts made to obtain information about Indians having black money stashed abroad have resulted in levy of taxes, imposition of penalties and filing of prosecution complaints in criminal courts in appropriate cases," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In another reply, he said: "The government has announced in the Budget speech 2015 features of a comprehensive new law to be enacted specifically to deal with black money stashed abroad."

There is no official estimation of amount of black money abroad, he added.

The government had commissioned a study on estimation of unaccounted income and wealth inside and outside the country, conducted by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy ( NIPFP), National Council of Applied Economic Research ( NCEAR) and National Institute of Financial Management.

Sinha said the reports received from these three institutes are under examination of the government.

Asked as to when the money will be brought back, the minister said: "It is, however, not possible to state by which date the black money stashed abroad would be brought back."

On whether any legal action will be taken by the government against persons or institutions that have produced very misleading data regarding black money, Sinha said estimation of black money reported by various persons and institutions are based upon different sets of facts, data methods, assumptions leading to varying inferences.

"Such varying estimations/inferences can not be termed as misleading data against which a legal action can be taken," he said.

The government had constituted a Special Investigation Team ( SIT) in May 2014 to deal with issues related to black money abroad.