More than 400 Benami transactions have been identified since the Benami Act has come into effect, informed Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Saying that the Ministry of Finance has taken various steps to address the problem of Benami transactions, Gangwar informed the House that the government has set up 24 Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) across India for taking effective action under the Benami Act.
He added that the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 (the Act) was comprehensively amended through the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016 to provide for an effective regime for prohibition of benami transactions. The amended Act, 2016 came into effect from November 1, 2016.
Adding to this, the Minister said that the Centre has taken several steps to address the problem of Benami transactions across the country as the Act prohibits Benami transactions and empowers the authorities specified in the Act to provisionally attach and eventually confiscate the Benami properties.
The Act also provides for prosecution of any person found guilty of the offence of Benami transaction by the competent court.
The offence of entering into a Benami transaction is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than one year but which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to 25 percent of the fair market value of the property.
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