HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had on Sunday revealed that it has observed a sharp rise in Gold transactions in Telangana’s state capital Hyderabad after the Central government announced demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes. The ED noted that tax evaders purchased Gold with their existing old currency between the period November 8 to November 30, to avoid being caught with black money. It also added that it was not able to trace back any of those who purchased Gold till date, which the ED believes amounted up to Rs 2,700 crore.
“We have noticed that 8,000 Kgs of Gold has been imported to Hyderabad between the period of November 8 to November 30. And since December 1st to December 10th, traders have so far imported 1,500 kgs of Gold. It has come to our notice that many of the black money holders tried to purchase Gold with their existing demonetized currency. If that was the case, it is illegal. We are looking into the details”, the ED said.
ED said that it has observed foul play in Gold transactions in many of the outlets in Hyderabad, citing the example of Musaddilal jewelers. The Gold trader has deposited Rs 100 crore in bank saying that they have received about 5,200 customer orders through demands and advance payments till the midnight of November 8-9 which amounted to Rs 100 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation found that Musaddilal jewelers have transferred the deposits to four other bullion traders, predicting a conspiracy. It suspects that the jewelers could have sold the Gold worth Rs 100 crore between the period when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetization and its actual implementation i.e, the midnight of November 8.
“We have tried to gather evidence against the Jewelers claims. The ED has observed that Musaddilal jewelers made efforts to erase the CCTV footage in their shop. However, the CCTV footage of a neighboring shop revealed that no one entered their shop on the night of demonetization”, the ED said.
According to the sources, Gold was imported into Hyderabad through companies like MMTC, MD Overseas Ltd, Diamond India, State Trading Corporation and banks like The Bank of Nova Scotia, State Bank of India, Indus Ind, ICICI, Yes Bank, HDFC, and Kotak Mahindra etc.
