New Delhi: Finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the income tax department was probing the HSBC list of accounts held by Indians abroad, while securing the passage of the Prevention of Money Laundering Bill in Rajya Sabha.
“HSBC list of accounts is being investigated by the income tax and other departments,” Chidambaram said in his reply to the discussion on the money laundering bill.
The case of money laundering, he explained, would arise only if there was a predicate offence and the proceeds of that were used for money laundering purposes.
The Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill was passed by voice vote. It seeks to widen the definition of money laundering to include concealment, acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime as criminal activities. The bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha. It provides for removal of the Rs 5 lakh limit for fine laid down in the existing Act.
Chidambaram’s statement that the I-T department was probing the list of nearly 700 foreign accounts held by Indian individuals/entities came a month after Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the government of not acting adequately on a list of HSBC accounts, including those held by top industrialists, shared by the French government in June 2011.
The charges were, however, denied by the industrialists, including Mukesh Ambani who was named by Kejriwal as one of the account holders. A persistent Kejriwal, however, released the HSBC account numbers of Mukesh and Anil Ambani in Mumbai last week.
Meanwhile, ahead of the bill’s passage by the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Chidambaram emphasized that the PMLA had been amended twice earlier in 2005 and 2009, and must now be amended again in line with the international law, India being a member of the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering. Chidambaram said the bill seeks to enlarge definition of definition of predicate offences of money laundering and include activities that are defined as crime under various other laws.
The minister said the amendment would introduce the concept of 'corresponding law' to link the provisions of Indian law with the laws of foreign countries.
It proposes to make provision for attachment and confiscation of the proceeds of crime even if there is no conviction so long as it is proved that offence of money laundering has taken place and property in question is involved in money-laundering. It also provides for appeal against the orders of the Appellate Tribunal directly to the Supreme Court.
Earlier, initiating the debate on the bill, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar expressed contentment at the government’s acceptance of 18 recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee.
Courtesy:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/12/18&PageLabel=12&EntityId=Ar01200&ViewMode=HTML
“HSBC list of accounts is being investigated by the income tax and other departments,” Chidambaram said in his reply to the discussion on the money laundering bill.
The case of money laundering, he explained, would arise only if there was a predicate offence and the proceeds of that were used for money laundering purposes.
The Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill was passed by voice vote. It seeks to widen the definition of money laundering to include concealment, acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime as criminal activities. The bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha. It provides for removal of the Rs 5 lakh limit for fine laid down in the existing Act.
Chidambaram’s statement that the I-T department was probing the list of nearly 700 foreign accounts held by Indian individuals/entities came a month after Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the government of not acting adequately on a list of HSBC accounts, including those held by top industrialists, shared by the French government in June 2011.
The charges were, however, denied by the industrialists, including Mukesh Ambani who was named by Kejriwal as one of the account holders. A persistent Kejriwal, however, released the HSBC account numbers of Mukesh and Anil Ambani in Mumbai last week.
Meanwhile, ahead of the bill’s passage by the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Chidambaram emphasized that the PMLA had been amended twice earlier in 2005 and 2009, and must now be amended again in line with the international law, India being a member of the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering. Chidambaram said the bill seeks to enlarge definition of definition of predicate offences of money laundering and include activities that are defined as crime under various other laws.
The minister said the amendment would introduce the concept of 'corresponding law' to link the provisions of Indian law with the laws of foreign countries.
It proposes to make provision for attachment and confiscation of the proceeds of crime even if there is no conviction so long as it is proved that offence of money laundering has taken place and property in question is involved in money-laundering. It also provides for appeal against the orders of the Appellate Tribunal directly to the Supreme Court.
Earlier, initiating the debate on the bill, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar expressed contentment at the government’s acceptance of 18 recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee.
Courtesy:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/12/18&PageLabel=12&EntityId=Ar01200&ViewMode=HTML
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