Black money rampant in property deals, claims Cobrapost

New Delhi, Nov 27: At least 35 realty developers have been found to be willing to accept black money in property transactions with many suggesting payments abroad to evade the attention of Indian authorities, an investigation portal claimed today.

These included many developers from the national capital region, as also some from other parts of the country including Mumbai, Cobrapost.com said while citing the findings of its 18-month-long sting operation conducted across nine states.

While releasing the transcripts and video recordings of its investigation at a press conference here, the portal said that executives from these companies, including some CEOs and CMDs, were ready to accept anywhere between 10-80 per cent of the property value in black money.

These 35 real estate companies are spread across the national capital, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. When contacted, some companies outrightly rejected the allegations that they accept black money in their property transactions, while a few others said that they have already taken action against the concerned executives.

The video clippings, which the portal said were recorded with spy cameras, showed conversations of senior executives from various companies with a person posing as a representative of a 'prominent politician', who was looking to convert black money into cash through substantial cash deals.

The portal said that most of these executives expressed willingness to accept money abroad through hawala channels, including in Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and the US.

The findings of this investigation, named 'Operation Black Ninja', have come at a time when the government is making all efforts to bring back unaccounted money stashed by its citizens abroad.

PTI