Jewellers laundered `100-cr cash, says I-T

The Income-Tax department on Saturday found money laundering in the form of old high denomination notes being converted into gold bullion to the tune of `100 crore.

Director general for the I-T department’s Central Investigation Unit (CIU) Neena Nigam said that the CIU team held surprise checks at reputed jewellery shops in Hyderabad. On viewing the CCTV footage, they found customers purchasing gold with demonetised currency on November 8, 2016, from 9 pm to midnight.

The team found that a reputed jeweller in Banjara Hills had made nearly 5,000 transactions with the demonetised `500 and `1,000 currency notes and had not gathered KYC (know your customer) data of the customers.

“As per the Income-Tax Act and Rules, jewellers must obtain primary information like proof of address, PAN details and phone number for gold transactions of more than `2 lakh. Our teams found that many bills were split into less than `2 lakh. The CCTV footage shows very few customers visited the jewellery shop during the said time on November 8, yet there were 5,000 transactions,” Ms Nigam said.

The jeweller deposited more than `100 crore in his bank account from November 10 to November 17.

Ms Nigam said, “The shop was closed by 8 pm on November 8. The Enforcement Directorate has been informed to take necessary action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). “The investigation is in progress,” she said.