In a bid to curb black money, the newly created GST intelligence arm, Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence, has been named the regulator for dealing with money laundering cases in the gems and jewellery sector.
A new notification has been issued by the Finance Ministry amending the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 to make the Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI) as the regulator with respect to the gems and jewellery sector.
As per the Notification, “Regulator” means a person or an authority or a Government which is vested with the power to license, authorise, register, regulate or supervise the activity of banking companies, financial institutions or intermediaries, as the case may be;
The regulator under PMLA issues guidelines and prescribes measures to establish client identity in different transactions. It may prescribe enhanced or simplified measures to verify the client’s identity taking into consideration the type of client, business relationship, nature and value of transactions based on the overall money laundering and terrorist financing risks involved, the rules state.
Under PMLA, every reporting entity is required to maintain record of all transactions of value exceeding Rs 10 lakh, all cross border wire transfers of more than Rs 5 lakh and all purchase and sale of immovable property of Rs 50 lakh or more.
Rules provide for “client due diligence” by the reporting entity to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing. After the amendment, the DGGSTI would now keep a track of transactions in the gems and jewellery sector to see if they are conformity with law.
Ahead of the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1, the government had strengthened DGSTI for detecting excise and service tax evasion using its intelligence network across the country. It also alerts field formations about the latest trends in the duty or tax evasion.
Read the Full Text of the Notification Below
