Justice (retd.) M.B. Shah, chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team on black money, said here on Saturday that the investigation into the accounts of 628 Indians who allegedly parked black money abroad would be “virtually over” by January-end.
The word from the SIT chairman follows a recent Supreme Court direction to the Centre to complete prosecution against the holders of unaccounted wealth abroad under the Income Tax Act by March 31, 2015.
Justice Shah told The Hindu on Saturday that the investigation was making steady progress. “Today, we met here to review progress in the probe conducted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in the case of Yadav Singh, ex-Chief Engineer of NOIDA authority. We will be constantly monitoring the case,” he said.
Recent Income Tax raids on Mr. Singh’s Noida residence unearthed Rs. 10 crore in cash and around 2 kg of diamond and gold jewellery. The Income Tax Department had found unaccounted assets at the residence and offices of the Uttar Pradesh government official.
The meeting resolved that CBDT Chairperson Anita Kapur would monitor search, seizure and further appropriate proceedings against Mr. Singh and other connected persons.Justice Shah welcomed an offer by whistleblower Stephanie Gibaud, a former public relations officer of the bank UBS France, to help India with its black money investigation during a televised interview with NDTV.
“Certainly, we are interested. We have always said that whosoever wishing to help us should come forward ... we welcome such initiatives,” he said.
Here is a timeline on > Indian black money in foreign banks
