Home Bureaucracy Sanjay Malhotra clears air on fears of opposition over ED using GSTN...

Sanjay Malhotra clears air on fears of opposition over ED using GSTN information for ‘tax terrorism’, says changes made in the money laundering law to comply FATF obligations

0

By Alok Mathur

Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra mitigated concerns of opposition ruled states on the changes made in the money laundering law.

“The were required to meet the obligations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” he said.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body which sets standards and develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. India became its member in 2010.Malhotra, who is a 1990-batch Rajasthan cadre officer, said it was clarified that the changes will empower tax authorities with more information and “I think all of them (state ministers) were quite satisfied with the explanation”.

The finance , through a notification, brought in an amendment to the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as per which GSTN, which handles the technology backbone of Goods and Services Tax, has been included in the list of entities with which ED (Enforcement Directorate) will share information.

“This notification was issued because it is one of the requirement under FATF evaluation…The GSTN is a recipient of information. There were doubts that GSTN will start sharing information about private businesses to other law enforcement agencies, like ED,” he said.

It was clarified that Director FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) will provide information to authorities wherever they feel there is any chance of tax evasion or money laundering. Several opposition-ruled states expressed concern over the Centre's decision to allow ED to share information with GST Network (GSTN), with finance of AAP-ruled Punjab Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday saying it amounts to ‘tax ' and scaring small businesses.

Exit mobile version