Gujarat businessman declares highest ever black money amount – Rs 13,000 crore!

New Delhi: This has to be the mother of all black money declaration – a Gujarat businessman has reportedly declared a whopping sum of Rs 13,000 crore as black money or illicit wealth to the Income Tax Authorities.

According to reports, Mahesh Shah voluntarily declared an astonishing Rs 13,000 crore unaccounted income under the Centre's Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) on September 30, the very last day of the scheme.

A resident of Ahmedabad with businesses in Mumbai and other parts of India, though Shah declared the income on time during the IDS, he failed to pay the first installment of tax – a sum of Rs 975 crore – by November 30, thus leading to his declaration of Rs 13,000 crore being termed as “black money”.

Due to the non-payment of tax and possession of black money, Shah could be arrested, the I-T department was reported as saying.

Notably, the IDS offered immunity to those who declared their unaccounted income once they paid the tax. But that is where Shah slipped.

The Income Tax department is said to be investigating Shah and conducting searches at several places related to Apaji Amin & Company.

Following the search operations by the IT Department, it has also been revealed that "Shah declared black money on behalf of several big shots of Ahmedabad."