Latest news with #MoneyLaunderingAct
Khaleej Times
14 hours ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
NRIs in UAE: Tax officers can now access digital evidence of evasive manoeuvres
Question: I am told that tax officers in India are using digital evidence to detect evasion of taxes both in India and abroad. Does this not violate a citizen's right to privacy? ANSWER: The internal handbook for tax officers has recently been revised whereby investigators are permitted to use data access tools from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing permitting them to enter the web where tax evaders often trade and chat. User credentials have been created for IT officials to access the web through special software. Currently, taxmen have to deal with an array of digital evidence, especially when it comes to dealing with transactions in virtual digital assets (VDAs). Therefore, steps and procedures have been outlined in the manual for identification and seizure of hardware and locating recovery phrases and QR codes to access private keys. Further, tax officers have been empowered to determine the ownership and location of unaccounted VDAs. If this involves violation of the black money law, Foreign Exchange Management Act or the Money Laundering Act, investigations would be commenced by other enforcement agencies as well under such laws. However, officers have been advised to follow the procedures and directions contained in the digital evidence investigation manual and to ensure that data security is not compromised and the personal data of citizens is protected. Question: With artificial intelligence techniques being applied widely in every sphere of industry, will India's advantage of offering labour at a competitive cost disappear? ANSWER: The advantage is emerging in a different landscape. There is a clear shift in India during the past three years towards high value added work like research and development in global sciences, technology and engineering. This shift is apparent from the fact that more than half of Fortune 500 companies have set up their Global Capability Centres in India. Atleast one GCC was set up in India every week in 2024. The country has about 1,800 GCCs employing close to 2.16 million professionals, recording a compounded annual growth rate of 11 per cent over the past five years. These business units are likely to employ 2.8 million professionals by 2030. Further, these outfits are now shifting to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where skilled manpower is available and the cost of real estate is 30 per cent to 40 per cent lower than in the metros. The Government of India is going out of its way to provide legislative support and a hassle free administration to ensure that the GCC ecosystem can attain its full potential. Other areas in which GCCs are now concentrating are in the fields of data science and product development. It is therefore expected that the GCCs contribution to the Indian economy will be around $200 billion by 2030 as against $68 billion at present. The primary reason for multinationals setting up these business outfits in India is that the country has 28 per cent of the global technology, science and engineering workforce and 23 per cent of the global software engineering talent. Question: Have government authorities provided any guidelines for appointment of senior managers in financial institutions with a view to ensure that persons of independent stature control the affairs of such institutions? ANSWER: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has laid down regulations and prescribed the process for appointment of key management personnel by market infrastructure institutions (MIIs). To strengthen the governance framework for stock exchanges, clearing corporations and security depositories, the guidelines require that the key management personnel (KMP) of MIIs should be persons of independent stature in crucial areas of operations, such as compliance, risk management, technology and information security. SEBI has mandated that MIIs should appoint an independent external agency which would identify and recommend suitable candidates for appointment as compliance officers, chief regulatory officers and other senior managers. This agency is required to submit its recommendations to the Nomination and Remuneration Committee which in turn would evaluate the recommendations and submit its report for appointment of KMP to the Board of Directors of the MII. The final decision would thereafter be taken by the Board and the same procedure would be followed for reappointment, termination or acceptance of resignation of KMP. The writer is a practising lawyer, specialising in corporate and fiscal laws of India.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Real estate fraud: Absconding promoters of Universal Buildwell arrested
1 2 Chandigarh: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Gurugram Zonal Office, on Wednesday claimed to have arrested Raman Puri, Varun Puri and Vikram Puri – promoters and former directors of M/s Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd – under the prevention of Money Laundering Act in a case related to alleged real estate fraud. The arrested accused, apprehended Tuesday night, were absconding for more than seven years and were declared proclaimed offenders by various courts in predicate matters. They were apprehended by the Delhi Police. The special PMLA court in Gurugram on Wednesday remanded the trio into ED custody until July 29. The ED had initiated an investigation into the case based on more than 30 FIRs registered under various sections of the IPC across Delhi NCR against M/s Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd, Raman Puri, Vikram Puri, and Varun Puri for failing to complete real estate projects on time and cheating the homebuyers/investors of their hard-earned money. The company was taken to the CIRP (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process), which resulted in a resolution plan for homebuyers/other financial contributors being accepted and NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) ordering some assets to be delivered to the homebuyers, who were the financial creditors, and the remaining assets to be liquidated. Most of the homebuyers had invested in the project before 2010. The case stems from the fraudulent mobilisation of homebuyers/investors' funds by the accused persons through Universal Buildwell Pvt Ltd, based on false promises of completing the project by 2010 and also promising assured returns in commercial projects. The arrested persons are also accused of cheating various financial institutions through forgery and fraud. They reportedly transferred some assets at negligible rates, oversold existing inventory, and executed forged agreements for their personal benefits. In this matter, data collected from the resolution professional revealed that the company, through their accused promoters, collected more than Rs 1,000 crore over 12 years on eight different projects in Gurugram and Faridabad, namely Universal Trade Tower, Universal Greens, Universal Business Park, Aura, Universal Square, Market Square, The Pavilion, and Universal Prime. They allegedly utilised only part of the funds for development and siphoned off the funds to acquire lands and other assets for their personal gains through criminal misappropriation, cheating, forgery, and fraud.
The Hindu
19-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Andhra Pradesh liquor scam: CID police file chargesheet in ACB Special Court
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) that is probing the multi-crore liquor scam filed the chargesheet in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Special Court here on Saturday. Investigation officers had so far arrested 11 persons. They included Kessireddy Rajashekar Reddy, former IT Adviser to former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy; K. Dhanunjaya Reddy, Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office; Krishna Mohan Reddy, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to then Chief Minister; director of Bharati Cements Balaji Govindappa, former MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, Rajashekar Reddy's personal assistant Dilip Kumar, Chanikya, and Sajjala Sridhar Reddy. In the chargesheet, the SIT mentioned about key issues, including seizure of cash from the bank accounts of the accused, evidences gathered, confessional statements, details of the witnesses, and remand reports of the accused. The police also mentioned about the involvement of 40 accused, including officers of the A.P. State Beverages Corporation Limited, Prohibition and Excise, YSR Congress Party leaders, and public representatives in the scam. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a case under the Money Laundering Act in the multi-crore scam and took up investigation. The police also searched the premises of the accused in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Meanwhile, the SIT summoned former Deputy Chief Minister and former Excise Minister K. Narayana Swamy on July 21 (Monday). SIT's Additional Superintendent of Police asked Mr. Narayana Swamy, to appear before the police at 10 a.m. on that day as part investigation of the liquor scam.
Hans India
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
State BJP ST Morcha asks DGP to take action against firms selling spurious seeds
Hyderabad: The State BJP ST Morcha lodged a complaint with DGP Jitender Reddy demanding justice for tribal farmers who have suffered losses due to spurious seeds. A team of BJP ST Morcha leaders led by ST Morcha state president Dr Kalyan Nayak met the DGP on Monday and told him about the prevailing situation in the Venkatapuram agency areas of Mulugu district. He said 'For the past few months, companies such as SIMJANTA, HITECH, BAYER, and SIBI have been supplying fake seeds. Tribal farmers who relied on quality seeds have faced devastating losses. Tragically, some farmers, burdened by debt, have committed suicide. The morcha leader said that this is not an agricultural failure, but, 'a conspiracy by the corrupt state government machinery hand in glove with the seeds companies against innocent tribal communities.' They demanded registering criminal cases against the responsible companies under the PD Act, and farmers should be compensated. Measures must be taken to prevent such scams in the future. Further, they demanded the State government immediately compensate the farmers who lost 3,000 acres of crops, support 800 tribal farmers, and provide ex-gratia payments to the families of the five deceased farmers. Besides, criminal cases should be registered against the companies that supplied fake seeds under the Money Laundering Act, and against the company owners under the PEDIAC Act. Similarly, they demanded an investigation into the responsible government officials, and appropriate action should be taken. Control measures and awareness programs should be implemented to prevent such incidents in the future. Dr Kalyan Nayak criticised the state government, stating, 'Minister Seethakka's focus on sand quarries and interest in beauty competition and silence over the suicides of tribal farmers. Even the Agriculture Minister has not responded to this crisis. While the Chief Minister conducts reviews, he has completely ignored the problems of the tribal farmers, he alleged. BJP ST Morcha State general secretary Ravi Nayak Nenawat, state secretary Kunja Santosh, Mahesh Rupawat, Banoth Anusha, and Ramesh Nayak were part of the delegation.
United News of India
06-05-2025
- Business
- United News of India
ED attaches property worth Rs 296 Cr of Concast Steel & Power in money laundering case
Kolkata, May 6 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached immovable property worth Rs 296.28 crore belonging to Concast Steel & Power Ltd and others under the Money Laundering Act (PMLA), official sources said on Tuesday. The immovable property, a total of 195 assets, has been confiscated, including that of residential and commercial establishments located in three contiguous states of West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand. " These properties are held in the name of Sanjay Kumar Sureka, the CMD of Concast Group and his 34 associated entities comprising shell companies, relatives, employees etc," the ED, Kolkata bureau said. The federal agency began investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI, BSFB, Kolkata, under various sections of the IPC, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. against Concast Steel and Power Limited (CSPL), along with its promoters/directors, who were engaged in alleged fraudulent activities like diversion/siphoning of funds, submission of inflated stock statements, manipulation of financials etc. The accused persons had availed multiple credit facilities including Term Loan, Cash credit, Letter of Credit (LC) from the consortium of banks and cheated the banks/financial Institutions to the tune of Rs 6210.72 crore (excluding interest). The ED's investigation revealed that Sanjay Kumar Surekha and associated individuals had created a maze of shell entities in the name of employees, relatives and associates with an intention to divert and launder the loan funds obtained from consortium of banks. The funds so diverted were utilized for personal expenses, buying various immovable properties including beneficially owned properties, the ED maintained. Earlier, during the investigation, assets worth Rs 210.07 crore in the form of immovable properties were identified and provisionally attached on January 31,.2025. Also, searches were conducted at several locations across many cities which has led to recovery of crucial incriminating materials. The main promoter Sanjay Sureka was arrested on December 18, 2024 and continues to be in judicial custody. UNI PC SJC
