PANAJI
Unaccounted wealth (black money and assets) worth more than Rs 1,300 crore has been unearthed in search operations at more than 50 sites over the last month across Goa, Bengaluru and Mumbai of entities engaged in the real estate and construction industry, the Income-Tax department has said.
The unaccounted income so unearthed is in the nature of cash, gold and jewellery, the I-T department said.
However, while it said Rs 1,300 crore of unaccounted wealth was unearthed, the I-T department admitted that it terms of seizure, only Rs 24 crore in cash and gold jewellery has been seized.
The I-T department also said that the searches were conducted on "certain individuals" who had executed 'Joint Development Agreements' with various real estate developers.
'Joint Development Agreements' is a relatively new trend adopted by captains of the real estate industry to beat liquidity issues and beat the difficulties faced in accessing funds from banking channels.
Developers make agreements with individual land owners instead of outrightly buying the land they develop and repay when projects are ready to sell or sold either in cash or kind. It is a trend that has gained steam in Goa's real estate sector over the 5-6 years.
The search and seizure operations in Goa, Bengaluru and Mumbai had been conducted by sleuths of the I-T department on October 20 and November 2.
"A large number of incriminating evidences, in the form of documents and digital data regarding sale agreements, development agreements and occupancy certificates (OCs) were seized," the I-T department said, adding that the assessees concerned admitted lapses and vouched to disclose capital gains and pay due taxes.
