By Ruchika Chitravanshi
NEW DELHI: The government has found that over Rs 21,000 crore was moved in and out of bank accounts during demonetisation by some of the companies that have been deregistered. The ongoing crackdown on shell companies has revealed that about 62,300 companies with 88,000 bank accounts had an unusual spike in transactions during the demonetisation period, as per data shared by banks.
All of these accounts belong to companies struck off the registrar of companies list after they were were found inactive for over two years or had defaulted on regulatory compliance. Corporate affairs ministry is still awaiting data on the remaining 1.6 lakh companies from the banks. “We have asked the department of financial services to take action against the banks that have not shared the information on the bank account transactions of the struck off companies...The whole picture will be revealed only after complete data is made known to us,” a senior official said.
The government has shared information of such companies with the enforcement authorities including Central Board of Direct Taxes, Financial Intelligence Unit and Reserve Bank of India for further action. The government has also disqualified over 3 lakh directors of companies that failed to file financial statements and/or annual returns for the three years ended March 2016.
“These companies did not establish any activity while they were existing…Suddenly huge transactions after demonetisation raises suspicion about the source of these funds,” the senior official added.
A special task force constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office led jointly by the revenue secretary and the corporate affairs secretary has met five times and initiated action against defaulting firms. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office has been directed to arrest “any person believed to be guilty of any fraud punishable under the Act”. Section 477 of the Companies Act defines fraud and prescribes punishment including imprisonment up to 10 years.
The finance ministry has been asked to include such fraud as a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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