Black money: 300 pc rise in raids, seizures

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) The Income Tax department hasseized an all-time high value of cash and jewellery, while Rs3,360 crore unpaid taxes have been surrendered this year aspart of its enhanced crackdown against black money holders inthe country. In a mammoth jump of over three times in the searches,raids and seizure action in the first seven months of thisyear as compared to the corresponding period of 2015, thedepartment seized over Rs 330 crore of alleged tainted cash,jewellery and other movable and immovable assets. Last year, this figure stood at Rs 102.50 crore. An official report prepared in this regard states thatI-T raids and searches this year have beaten all records ofthe last about five years in terms of number of such actionsconducted, seizures made and subsequently the untaxed incomebrought to the government coffers. The figures compiled in the report, which has beenaccessed by PTI, state that the I-T Department carried outonly 55 searches between January-July 2015, while thesenumbers rose to 148 in the corresponding period this year,cash seized during these operations jumped thrice to over Rs254 crore as compared to Rs 76.72 crore last year, and thevalue of jewellery and precious metals seized this year standsat Rs 84.59 crore as compared to Rs 21.59 crore in 2105. "The total value of the seizures, after I-T raids wereconducted between January-July this year, stands at Rs 329.93crore as compared to Rs 102.50 crore during the same periodlast year. The latest figures are progressive and would goover Rs 330 crore (for Jan-July, 2016). This is a three timesincrease," the report said. It said the investigation directorate of the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy-making body of theI-T Department, has issued strict directives to step up theseactions to unearth instances of domestic black money and gointo "all the usual and unusual sectors" that generate untaxedwealth. The department, across all the 16 regional investigationwings in the country, also got admitted or got surrenderedover Rs 3,360 crore of money after searches were conducted,which was identified as unaccounted wealth, as compared to Rs2,146.38 crore of such funds last year during the same period.(MORE) PTI NES KIS ZMNKIS