Businessman T.M. Ramalingam, who appeared at the Office of the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) following a summons issued to him following the search of his premises in Dharapuram last week. Photo: S. Siva SaravananPublished: January 4, 2013 00:35 IST | Updated: January 4, 2013 00:35 IST
“Was raising funds for project”
M. Soundariya Preetha
R. Vimal Kumar
A resident of Dharapuram for the last 17 years, T.M. Ramalingam, who has come under national focus after the Income tax Department raid of his residence, offers a bizarre explanation for what appears to be U.S. bonds worth $ 5 billion seized from him. He said that he was raising funds for an ambitious petroleum refinery product in Tamil Nadu.
He has an office-cum-residence on an 86-cent plot along the Dharapuram-Palani road and rented out 27 cents of the plot to a petrol bunk. Though his annual income from trade and rentals is about Rs. 3 lakh, he wants to establish a petroleum product refinery project worth thousands of crores at Thondi in the Ramanathapuram district. He submitted a proposal to the Centre about a year ago for approval.
Mr. Ramalingam had formed a private company for this purpose in 2010 with an initial investment of Rs. 15 lakh and was trying to raise funds for the project. He was also looking out for land (about 1,000 acres) for the project.
He purchased the international bills of exchange of face value $ 5 billion in his name through a mediator, a little more than a year ago, as part of the fund raising for the project, he said . “I did not think of bank loan for the project as the interest rates are high. I wanted to bring in foreign investors for the project,” he said . “I have followed all rules and hence, I do not have to worry.” He travelled to Singapore and Dubai in the last four years.
He said that his recent purchase of a sport utility vehicle worth Rs. 17 lakh, without any loan, and the proposal for the refinery could have probably triggered suspicion of the I-T authorities. “I am not associated with any politician and I never made any attempt to liquidate the bills of exchange,” he said in his defence.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/was-raising-funds-for-project/article4270100.ece?css=print
Published: January 3, 2013 00:08 IST | Updated: January 3, 2013 11:58 IST
$5 billion worth U.S. bonds seized in raids
Special Correspondent
In an unusual seizure, Income Tax authorities recovered what appeared to be U.S. treasury bonds worth $5 billion from the residence-cum-office of an individual on the Dharapuram-Palani main road a couple of days ago, official sources said.
IT officials from Chennai and Coimbatore conducted the raids, including a search of one place in Chennai on Monday, and seized five international bills of exchange worth $1 billion each.
The sources did not want to describe them as U.S. government securities until their authenticity was established. A source in Chennai said Rs. 1 crore cash was also seized.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/5-billion-worth-us-bonds-seized-in-raids/article4266146.ece
http://www.uncitral.org/pdf/english/texts/payments/billsnotes/X_12_e.pdfThis is the text of an International Convention on Bills of Exchange and International Promissory Notes, 1988. "This Convention does not deal ~ith the question of sanctions that may be imposed under national la~ in cases ~here an incorrp.ct or false statement has been made on an instrument in respect of a place referred to in paragraph 1 or 2 of this article. However, any such sanctions shall not affect the validity of the
instrument or the application of this Convention." I hope the IT investigations continue to find out the following: 1. Has Ramalingam every tried to encash any such instrument? 2. Who are his clients, since he is reportedly a commodity broker? 3. What were the gold bonds used to acquire the bills of exchange?
This case may turn out to be larger than the illicit money dealt with by Hasan Ali, race-horse owner, a case adjudicated in the Hon'ble SC.
Kalyanaraman
Published: January 5, 2013 02:20 IST | Updated: January 5, 2013 02:36 IST
International bills, not U.S. treasury bonds: I-T officials
N. Anand
‘Tirupur’s Ramalingam purchased bills worth $5 billion for gold bonds from a person based in Brazil’
Documents seized from T.M. Ramalingam of Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu on December 31 were international bills of exchange with a face value of $5 billion and not U.S. treasury bonds, I-T officials probing the seizure said on Friday.
According to Additional Director of Income Tax (Investigation) S. Murali Mohan, the I-T officials seized five documents with a face value of $1 billion each and said the businessman claimed to have purchased these bills of exchange by exchanging gold bonds he already had with him (worth $5 billion) with a person based in Brazil.
Mr. Ramalingam appeared at the Office of the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) following a summons issued to him following the search of his premises in Dharapuram last week. Mr. Mohan and Deputy Director of Income Tax S. Anbuselvam grilled Mr. Ramalingam for nine hours from 11.45 a.m. onwards.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Mohan said they were verifying the authenticity of the document with U.S. authorities through the Union government and the truth would be out next week. Moreover, Mr. Ramalingam had given varying versions to the investigating officials at different points of time and they were verifying which one was correct.
“For the last four years, Mr. Ramalingam has not filed I-T returns. So there is no question of disclosures. Possessing huge bills of exchange and not making any disclosure to the department is against the law. We are also probing whether he was acting as a front for someone. He had some fixed deposit receipts in a bank locker. Apart from that we have not made any seizure at his home,” Mr. Mohan said.
“The grilling session is over and Mr. Ramalingam need not appear before us on Saturday. We have sent the documents to New Delhi for verification as there is a set procedure to verify documents belonging to other countries and we don’t want to break the rules and the results would be out next week,” said another I-T official.
Mr. Ramalingam arrived, along with his lawyer Elango, at the income tax office here well before 10 a.m. Mr. Elango and his assistant were asked to sit outside while they questioned Mr. Ramalingam.
Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Elango said he did not expect such treatment from the I-T officials as he was prevented from helping his client (Mr. Ramalingam) in the hour of need.
Asked whether Mr. Ramalingam planned to pledge these documents with financial institutions to raise money, he said the bills of exchange could not be pledged.
As to whether Mr. Ramalingam had purchased these bills of exchange or they were transferred to him by someone else, he refused to give details, merely claiming that all the documents were legal.
M. Soundariya Preetha and V.S. Palaniappan add from Coimbatore:
No company registered
Mr. Ramalingam may attract investigation from other government departments too. An official source says Mr. Ramalingam had not registered any company with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Coimbatore, so far. [Mr. Ramalingam told The Hindu on Thursday that he formed a company in 2010 to establish a petroleum refinery at Thondi]. The subject was expected to come up for discussion at the regional economic intelligence committee meeting.
If Mr. Ramalingam was associated with any corporate entity and, if necessary, the RoC would consider initiating an investigation. “We wanted to ascertain if he is associated with any corporate,” the official said.
According to the Dharapuram police, there is one case of cheating against Mr. Ramalingam under investigation, based on a complaint filed by Kaliyaperumal of Mannargudi in 2011 accusing the former of having cheated the latter to the tune of Rs. 5,500.
In addition, there are three petitions at the inquiry stage, sources said.
With the recent I-T raid, the police are also contemplating expediting the investigations.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/international-bills-not-us-treasury-bonds-it-officials/article4273921.ece?homepage=true&css=print