Under the new law on black money, banks and other financial institutions will also face action if they are found to have abetted stashing of illicit wealth, along with the action against the perpetrators and beneficiaries of this crime.
The new law will not only target the perpetrator of the crime, of holding or generating black money, but also the “arbitrator, the abettor and the beneficiary”, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday.
The comments assume significance in view of the charges being faced in India and elsewhere by global banking major HSBC for allegedly helped individuals in parking ill-gotten wealth in Switzerland.
“… The new legislation will deal with perpetrators of the offence of black money, as also the abettor and the beneficiary,” he said, while adding that the perpetrators could be individuals entities or institutions, while abettors could be banks or financial institutions.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Union Budget on Saturday that the government will frame a new law to check the black money menace and a bill in this regard would be presented in the Parliament during the current session.
The law would provide for hefty penalties and imprisonment of up to ten years.
