Nagpur: The Income Tax Department is keeping a watch on everyday transaction through various channels to identify Benami Transactions said Jairaj Kajla, Principal Director of Investigation, Income Tax Department on the occasion of Seminar on Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2012 and Benami Transactions(Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 organized by the Nagpur Branch of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He further said that violations under the amended Act invites criminal prosecution and rigorous imprisonment upto 7yrs. Kajla cautioned the members that the Act is bit harsh in terms of the consequences of a transaction being identified as Benami which everyone should be aware of.
He further shared that the Income Tax Department is focusing on identifying such Benami Transactions through various technological modes. The Department is continuously receiving various ‘Suspicious Transaction Reports’ from various sectors all over the country which is being monitored for identifying persons involved in Benami Transactions. He also elaborated that under the Benami Transactions (Prohibitions) Amendment Act 2016 entire property can be confiscated by the Department without any compensation to the aggrieved persons. Further due to the intensive efforts of the departments, various cases have been identified and provisional attachments have already been made including assets such as Land, Flats, Shops, Fixed Deposits, etc.
Chairman CA. Umang V Agrawal welcomed the chief guest, speakers of the technical session and all the participants. He highlighted that huge professional opportunity lies for Chartered Accountants by way of representing clients under both the Acts. He futher requested the members to guide the general public so that a genuine person is not adversely affected by the harsh provisions of the Acts. He on behalf of the CA fraternity extended full support to the departments exercise in unearthing all such transactions.
CA. Abhijit Kelkar, Regional Council Member, congratulated the Branch in organizing a seminar on such a crucial subject while highlighting the larger picture that may come up in the coming days when stringent actions under both the Acts is undertaken. He also appreciated the department’s assessee friendly atmosphere and thanked the guest for considering Chartered Accountants as their partners at all levels.
In the technical session speaker CA. Sudhir Baheti spoke on Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016. He explained the various stages involved in adjudicating a transaction as Benami Transaction while sharing the remedies available for a person who is covered under the Act. He also explained the various provisions of this Act and has also cited various judicial pronouncement on this subject.
Further CA. Kailash Jogani, elaborated about the provisions of PMLA. He has dealt with the provisions of PMLA with illustrative examples. He has discussed about schedule offences. He said this Act, has been extended to whole of India including J & K also. In common terms he said that money laundering is basically conversion of money earned through crimes, smuggling & illegal money as legal money. He further said that the scope of this has been wide and care should be taken by the professionals while advising the clients.
SPG Mudaliar, Addl. Director of Investigation was also present on the occasion. The programme was coordinated by Vice Chairman CA. Suren Duragkar.
Prominently present were Secrtary CA. Kirit Kalyani, Treasurer CA. Saket Bagdia, Executive member CA. Sanjay Agrawal, CA. Naresh Jakhotiya, CA. Mahendra Jain, CA. Prem Ashutosh, CA. R. D. Parakh, CA. Rajeev Sawangikar and many others.
