SIT on black money now targeting shell companies: Pasayat

Deputy chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT) on black money Justice Arijit Pasayat today said the SIT is now mainly targeting shell companies in the country, which are indulging in tax evasion and money laundering.

After a meeting with officers of government agencies dealing with economic and financial affairs here, he said the officials were instructed to locate the shell companies in the state and share information among them to launch a unified crackdown on these firms.

"The agencies were sensitised to locate and gather information about the dealings of shell companies and how to attach their properties under the provisions of Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act of 2016," Justice Pasayat told reporters.

Sources said the Central government, by executing various schemes over the last three years, has so far detected around Rs 1 lakh crore in black money, a substantial amount of which are stashed abroad.

Most of the schemes introduced by the government were the outcome of recommendations made by the SIT during the last three years, they said.

The SIT is going to submit its next interim report to the Supreme Court in September this year, sources informed.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)