A whopping Rs 3,000-cr black money recovered in 2013

Black money totalling around Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) has been detected in the country by the central economic intelligence agency in the first half of this year, according to official sources.

The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, the nodal agency under Finance Ministry for gathering and disseminating intelligence related to financial crimes, has culled out 174 cases between January and July this year involving tax evasion and routing of blackmoney, the sources said on Tuesday.

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These cases involve Rs 3,000.98 crore (Rs 30 billion) in blackmoney and Rs 386 crore (Rs 3.86 billion) in evasion of central excise, customs duty and service tax, they said.

The CEIB has shared the relevant inputs with the enforcement agencies concerned for further follow up, the sources said.

The bureau has received as many as 843 inputs from various law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Of these, a highest of 408 inputs were shared by service tax commissionerates, 181 by service tax commissionerates and 120 by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence formations across the country among other, they said.

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In all these cases, individuals and firms have evaded tax liabilities worth over Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion).

These cases are being followed up by relevant offices, the sources said.

The Financial Intelligence Unit, an agency tasked with collecting, analysing and disseminating information related to dubious financial transactions, has also shared 33 suspicious transaction reports.

An STR is a transaction of Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) and above believed to be proceeds of crimes including that from black money.

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The CEIB also recently detected about Rs 2,280 crore (Rs 22.8 billion) of unaccounted income being allegedly routed through Private Placement Programme.

The PPP mode, which has emerged as a new method for converting black money into white, involves offering of securities to select individuals or groups, upto 50 in number, contrary to initial public offers for listing of firms.

The Finance Ministry has issued a stern warning for tax evaders and is putting in every effort to check revenue leakage.

It has set indirect tax collection target, comprising customs, excise and service tax, of Rs 5.65 lakh crore (Rs 5.65 trillion) for 2013-14, up from Rs 4.73 lakh crore (Rs 4.73 trillion) in the last fiscal.