Kolkata: Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) President G Ramaswamy on Friday stressed upon the urgent need of addressing the issue of black money through strict amendments from the Union government.
While speaking at a conference in Kolkata, he assured of assisting the government by forming a committee to provide suggestions in taking all the necessary steps.
“We have formed a committee to help the government with the issue of black money,” he remarked.
While addressing the issue Ramaswamy stated the need for necessary amendment in several laws of the government that are currently a hindrance to the law enforcers and those that provide adequate cover to the corrupt.
“We want focus on the Benami Act and the Double Taxation Agreement which needs to be reviewed. We need strict amendments in order to handle the issue properly,” he said.
Upon query Ramaswamy revealed that the committee is planning to submit a preliminary report by Sep 30, 2011 after which it will work towards addressing the nuances of the problem that has gripped the nation.
“Currently nobody has any statistics and nobody has any accurate idea of how much money is out there,” he stated.
Ramaswamy informed that on request from the Election Commission of India they have made a presentation to the authorities regarding the proper regulation of financial holdings of the various political parties in India.
He said, “The Election Commission had directed us to provide guidelines to audit the accounts of the political parties properly so that the financial statements of political parties are uniform. In fact we have already made a presentation to them.”
Ramaswamy praised the new government of West Bengal for showing a definite purpose towards fulfilling the need of transparency and also for showing a positive attitude towards industrialisation.
“I would like to complement the new government of West Bengal for their active support towards industrialisation and we would like to help the State government by any means possible,” he remarked.
“We would like to have our say at the State level budgets and the State Planning Commission,” he added.
Ramaswamy applauded the efforts of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for taking active steps towards providing transparency of its
financial assets.
“We should look at the work of the KMC. It has already converted the single entry system to double entry system,” he said.
Leave a Comment