The Investigation Wing of Income Tax (North West Region) has unearthed a hawala racket of more than Rs 1,000 crore in Haryana post demonetisation.
Giving details of investigations post demonetisation in the country, Director general (investigations) of Income Tax (North West Region) Madhu Mahajan on Tuesday said that numerous hawala accommodation entry operators have stepped up their operations in the region.
“In one interesting case of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, more than Rs 1,000 crore was found to be laundered and of this over Rs 100 crore belongs to the people in Punjab,” she said, adding these rackets take cash and enable money to move from one bank to another on a real time.
An entry operator in Charkhi Dadri has been identified who provided undue benefits to more than 18 beneficiaries by facilitating deposits," said Mahajan.
The Director General said that the main accused did not have wherewithal to carry out such transactions and the beneficiaries of this "scam" could be more.
Benami accounts inlayers were opened to launder accounted cash. It is not just the black money of business persons which they have attempted to convert or
launder, but businesses and banks have helped others to do so, she added.
Similarly, some jewellers allegedly showed huge cash sales to show crores of cash in hand while builders showed backdated cash deposits and agreement to hoodwink authorities, she said.
With some banks, especially cooperative banks, we found that SOP of RBI were not followed and accounts were not properly maintained. Cash seizure of more than Rs 2.5 crore from cooperative bank and helper companies have been done, added Mahajan.