July 8, 2016
The income tax department has prepared an integrated databank of suspected black money holders across the country who have taken the help of ‘entry operators’ to launder large amounts of unaccounted cash through banking channels over the past few years.
These entry operators are chartered accountants or middlemen who launder money on behalf of clients by operating multiple bank accounts. These intermediaries provide cheques to beneficiaries to convert unaccounted cash into legal tender. This is done against cash deposits in the accounts of operators who later raise bogus bills for a commission of 1-2%. The new databank is based on information gathered from entry operators who were raided by I-T units in the past two years, an officer engaged in the exercise said. The data has provided I-T officials with the names of thousands of suspectedtax evaders and companies who could be involved in black money transactions.