Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

ED should use its penal powers against violators, says Jaitley

- HT Correspond­ent letters@hindustant­imes.com

NEW DELHI: About 900,000 registered companies do not file annual returns and are potential sources of money laundering, a top government official said on Saturday, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pitched for the country’s top anti-financial crime agency to be used “expeditiou­sly” against tax cheats.

Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the Prime Minister’s Office had set up a task force to monitor these companies and “there is no reason for us to let such companies operate in India”. Of 1.5 million companies registered in India, about 600,000 file their returns, including annual audited reports, with the ministry of corporate affairs. About half of them show zero income, official records show. “We have given notices to some of them,” Adhia said at a function of the Enforcemen­t Directorat­e (ED). The BJP government has intensifie­d its drive against tax evaders since its November 8 decision to scrap old 500- and 1000rupee notes, a move PM Narendra Modi said was aimed at breaking India’s black economy.

Cracking down on shell companies, the government decided in February to take “harsh punitive” action including freezing the bank accounts used to launder money, evade taxes. Shell companies are fronts used as conduits to convert illicit money into legal cash, and are key to money laundering operations.

 ??  ?? Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley

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