Page 12 - Banking Finance JANUARY 2017

ROUNDUP

Delhi lawyer's cash stash Easier modes of digital payments to be launched soon
touches Rs. 157 cr A group of top secretaries formed by the Centre post demonetisation has ad-
vised the government to roll out more user-friendly
Raids on a little-known lawyer in the modes of digital payment and is in touch with all dis-
capital, who claimed to have a "thriv- trict collectors and chief secretaries to take stock of the
ing practice", netted nearly Rs 13.5 situation.
crore, in old and new currency. This is
the third time the IT department has "The group is regularly interacting with district collec-
hauled up the lawyer, Rohit Tandon, tors and the government machinery at the local level
with a hoard of unaccounted cash. to review the situation especially in rural areas," a source said.
The cash - in bundles of banned Rs GST council might reduce tax slabs in future: CBEC
500 and Rs 1,000 notes and in new The GST Council may in future decide to reduce the tax slabs under the Goods
Rs 2,000 notes - were hidden in and Services Tax regime after analysing the revenue
wooden cabinets and secret chests at garnered and the compensation payouts to states, a
Tandon's office in GK-1. The first raid
on Tandon on October 7 netted Rs top official said. With industry demanding lowering of
proposed GST rates of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per
125 crore while the second, two
weeks ago, yielded Rs 19 crore. cent and 28 per cent post the demonetisation, CBEC
Chairman Najib Shah said the Centre and the states
CID arrests officials un- at present collect Rs 8 lakh crore from indirect taxes, minus customs duty, and
der charges of embezzle- the same level of revenue has to be collected in the GST regime.
ment IT officials unwraps fraud cases post demonetisation
The Kolkata CID arrested four offi- Income-tax officials said they have post-demonetisation uncovered several fraud
cials of PSU cases, including one wherein a syndicate was ex-
N a t i o n a l changing old currency notes for 35 per cent com-
Small Indus- mission.
tries Corpo- They also found a case in Nagpur where a large
ration (NSIC) sum of money was deposited in a bank account
from Alipore without the knowledge of the account holder and
in Kolkata on charges of fraud and seven accounts were being fraudulently operated by unknown persons to laun-
embezzlement of public money.
der Rs 4.25 crore.
Those arrested have been identified Central Board of Direct Taxes said some probes at Mumbai found that a syndi-
as Manik Lal Das (zonal head), cate of ground level operators was converting banned currency notes into legal
Gopinath Bhattacharya (deputy gen- tenders.
eral manager), Pradip Karmakar (ac-
counts manager) and Jayanta Das 2,071 industrialists' loan account turns NPAs
(manager marketing). They have
been accused of procuring a Rs 173- There are as many as 2,071 industrialists whose loan accounts with an exposure of
crore loan for opening bogus small Rs 3.89 lakh crore have turned into NPAs, Parliament was
scale Industries. informed. All these industrialists had taken loan of Rs 50 crore
or more. As of June 30, 2016, NPA accounts above Rs 50 crore
Sources in the CID said on July 26,
NSIC had lodged a complaint with were 2,071 with outstanding amount of 3,88,919 crore, Min-
ister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said.
North police station in Bidhannagar.
Later, the case was transferred to the "In terms of instructions of RBI, every bank has to have its
CID. "The exact modus operandi of own recovery policy, including the manner and procedure
the group is yet to be ascertained," of write-offs," he said. Loans are written off after appropriate provisions have
said a CID official. been made to take advantage of tax benefits and capital optimisation, he said.

12 | 2017 | JANUARY | BANKING FINANCE

Copyright@ The Insurance Times. 09883398055 / 09883380339