Cricket betting has emerged as one of the key sources of black money generation and according to one account it could be as high as Rs 3 lakh crore which should be controlled, the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday.

The report of the court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), submitted to the court, has put the total amount from 339 accounts mentioned in HSBC bank was Rs. 6,400 crore.

On the basis of investigations carried out so far in respect of the 628 entries/persons having accounts in HSBC bank, there was no amount mentioned in 289 cases while a sum of Rs 237 crore has been recovered as tax and penalties on black money, it said.

“Large amounts of black money are being transacted every year. As per the FICCI report, it comes to more than Rs three lakh crore. This is required to be controlled,” the apex-court appointed said in its brief summary to a bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu,

The (SIT) submitted its report on the progress made in tracing and bringing unaccounted wealth from tax havens.

In its third report, the SIT has given the summary of steps taken, the results achieved and suggestions which can be adopted to bring illegal money back to country.

The SIT said it is awaiting response from various departments on its suggestions like making mandatory mentioning of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) in the invoice for sale and purchase of goods worth Rs one lakh or more.

The panel sought a direction from the court to the authority for implementation of its earlier suggestion that five additional courts be set up in Mumbai to deal with such cases.

Dealing with the investigation carried so far in respect of the 628 entries/ persons having accounts in HSBC bank, for which information came from France, it said that in 289 cases, no amount is mentioned.

“Amount is mentioned in 339 cases. (a) Total of peak balance is approx. USD 1.9 billion (i.e Rs 8624 crore). (B) Rs 2,224 is the total amount that of repeated/ duplicated entries on account of there being joint account holders/ beneficiaries. (C) Hence, net amount comes to Rs 6,400 crore,” the report said.

The report further said, “Amount of Rs 237 crores approx. is recovered on tax and penalties demand raised. However, it does not include the amount paid by self assessment tax in certain cases.”

It also said that besides the 628 cases, additional information is being gathered in other 605 matters which are currently under investigation.

It also said that on the basis of report of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), inquiries have been conducted and the names of 430 resident Indians out of the total 534 Indians have been traced.

The panel further said that the IT returns in these cases shows that such transactions were not disclosed to the Income Tax department.

“During the course of investigation, 176 persons have admitted their relationship with such offshore entities/ transactions. Further inquiry is under progress,” it said.

It said that the CBDT has been able to “detect unaccounted income to the tune of Rs 7,078 crore during 2013-14 and corresponding figure is Rs 4,456.96 crore for 2014-15 (till Feb. 15)”.

It also quoted a report of Global Financial Integrity (GFI) which revealed that illicit financial flow from India was “much more” and remained uncontrolled. The country ranks fourth in the list of 142 nations on the illegal money flow, it said.

The panel agreed with the suggestion of senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who has filed the PIL on the black money, that every candidate should file an affidavit before the election that he or she does not hold any illegal money abroad and in the event of contrary findings, the persons be barred from electoral politics.

The same yardstick could be made applicable to senior appointees in the government like RBI Governor, SEBI Chairman, CBI Director, etc., the panel said.

The SIT also referred to the alleged non-prosecution of Yadav Singh, CEO of NOIDA Authority, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. A large amount of unaccounted money was allegedly recovered from Singh’s possession. (PTI)

After championing the cause of Village Adoption in the west coast and the east coast, Nara Lokesh now visits the state of Texas

A overwhelming NRI TDP, Dallas wing organized a huge car rally making Dallas streets yellow, and brought Lokesh to the venue where over 1000 people assembled for the meeting on Sunday, 10 May 2015 at 7pm.

Dr. Navaneeta Krishna Gorrepati, a Past President of TANA and a Sr. Cardiologist in Dallas, made the opening remarks that the Govt of AP has a contributing role in their success by spending big amounts for each individual’s education taking his own example of the government’s cost towards the education of a doctor. It was not only their responsibility to give back to the Govt but also an opportunity to develop the village where they were born.

Mr. K C Chekuri & Lokesh Konidala introduced the NRI TDP office bearers from Dallas and explained the activities undertaken over the last 7-8 years. Subsequently, referring to the Smart Village program, Mr Raghavendra Prasad thanks Nara Lokesh for this opportunity and mentioned that NRIs were always seen as money packets by all the previous politicians, leaders and governments but for the first time, Govt of AP was seeking the intelligence and experience of NRIs in the development of the state. He reiterated that the Govt of AP asking involvement from NRIs and not just financial support was a very good sign and encouraged everyone to participate and help in the success of the initiative.

Mr. Sugan Jagarlamudi, who coordinated the adoption of villages from NRIs in the Dallas area, mentioned that they have appointed 20 ambassadors district wise (with 2-3 individuals for each district). These ambassadors promoted the initiative and succeeded in obtaining 356 donors for village adoption. Mr Sugan presented a detailed list of the donors and respective villages adopted district wise. He added that Prakasam district topped the list with maximum number of village adoptions followed by Chitoor district.

Presenting the finer details of the Smart Village Smart Ward programme, Nara Lokesh thanked the NRI community in Dallas area and appreciated their efforts in taking up promotion district wise. During the Q&A session, Nara Lokesh clarified on many queries and processes. To a question on how difficult or easy would it be for an NRI to participate, Mr. Lokesh said that Govt of AP is working on having a fibre optic connection to all villages by the end of the year. With internet connectivity in place, NRIs could interact with the village leaders and government officials using Skype. He also added that NRIs could appoint representatives to work and coordinate activities on their behalf. This entire process would be a recognized government activity performed under the office of the Collector and hence any issue could be brought to the notice of collector for help and resolution. He also mentioned that can be multiple people for the same village and there can be a donor / coordinator for specific task.. for example: a person who has interest or expertise in education or water mgt or sanitation can take up that responsibility for that for many villages.

This event was organized by Navaneeta Krishna Gorrepati, Raghavendra Prasad, Chalapathi Kondragunta, Murali Vennam, Ramanaidu Suryadevara, Srinivas Koneru, Satish Manduva, Krishna Korada, Sugan Chagarlamudi, Suresh Manduva, Kiran Tummala, Lokesh Konidala, Srikanth Polavarapu, Chandu Kaza, Anil Veerapaneni, Samba Dodda, Srini Manduva, KC Chekuri, Venkat Kolli, Sekhar Anne, Srinivas Kavuri, Vinod Uppu, Sesharao Boddu,  Amar Anne, Prashant Chagarlamudi, Ravi Bonthu, Chandrasekhar Police,  Subhash Nelakanti, Ramesh Gadiraju, Chandrahas Maddukuri, Anu Adusumilli & many others.

Great food was served by Jalsa Place, Bawarchi & Hotbreads.

Attendees were entertained by Great Local Singers Samba Karnati, Jaya Kalyani & Prabhakar Kota.

A  wing for NRIs

Responding to another question about help and support to the NRIs, Mr. Lokesh mentioned that the Govt the AP is seriously contemplating to start an independent body for NRT (Non Resident Telugus). All NRIs would be enrolled as members and this body would function under Govt of AP and would look after all issues of NRIs varying from simple support in arranging darshan at Tirupati to give assistance to issuing / renewing passport to many things. A detailed announcement would come in the next 50 days.