Bombay, July 29: The Income Tax authorities in Bombay have impounded two large bank accounts of Rs. 28 lakhs and Rs. 14 lakhs in a city bank on suspicion that it is black money and is part of a foreign exchange racket involving remittances abroad of about $2 millions (Rs. 1.50 crores).
The action by the Income Tax authorities, it was officially learnt to-day, followed the suspension from service two days ago of two junior officers of the Exchange Control Department of the Reserve Bank of India here for their suspected involvement in this remittance racket.
The Reserve Bank’s suspicions about the two officers indulging in malpractices in issuing remittance memos were aroused when the Regional Manager of the Vijaya Bank in Bombay raised a query about the authenticity of a particular exchange permit.
Top officers of the Enforcement Directorate of the Union Government were immediately called in and after a preliminary enquiry, the officers were suspended.
The bursting of the racket has now become a combined operation of the Reserve Bank, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax authorities, with the CBI being pressed into service for related investigations.
It is suspected that the racket was mainly organised for arranging remittances of foreign currency to Hong Kong, Dubai, Switzerland and the U.S. to well-guarded secret accounts kept in fictitious names in banks in these countries.
