Black money: ED issues FE violation notices to LGT bank account holders

The Enforcement Directorate has issued foreign exchange violation notices to those individuals whose names have figured in the LGT Bank accounts for stashing illegal funds.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has referred 17 cases to the ED in this connection as the Income Tax department has initiated prosecution action in these cases.

The ED has initiated action against these account holders in Mumbai, Delhi and other cities.

According to top sources, the ED is looking at suspected contraventions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) through these accounts and has recorded statements in some cases.

"In some cases, the individuals have not turned up even after being served summons for appearance and production of documents. The ED has asked the Income Tax department to provide it additional documents in these cases," they said.

The government has imposed a penalty of Rs 24.66 crore on 18 individuals who have bank accounts with Liechtenstein's LGT Bank on the basis of information provided by German authorities.

Germany had last year provided the names of some Indians having secret accounts in Liechtenstein's LGT Bank. These names were part of about 1,400 stolen bank account details purchased by Germany.

India, according to the Finance Ministry, has so far received over 9,900 pieces of information from several countries regarding suspicious transactions by Indian citizens, which are now under different stages of processing and investigation.