Income Tax discovers RS 100 crore black money

Bengaluru Dec 3: The Income tax officials have unearthed approximately RS 100 cr of black money after they have conducted raids on IVF clinics and diagnostic centers in Bengaluru. The department has also exposed the multi-layered nexus between medical centers and doctors.

IT officials have said that "Doctors were paid for referring medical tests.The amount of referral fee in the case of a single lab exceeds Rs 200 crore."

The department has seized about Rs 1.4 crore in cash and about 3.5 kg of jewelry and bullion during its three-day action against two in-vitro fertilization (IVF) centers and five diagnostic centers.

Officials have also seized foreign currency and detected foreign bank accounts with deposits running into crores of rupees.

IT officials have said that "the searches in the five medical diagnostic centers resulted in establishing the various methods of how doctors are paid for referring medical tests. The commission varied from lab to lab, but the median range of normal 'cuts'/commission for doctors is 35% in case of MRI tests and 20% in case of CT scan and other lab tests. These payments are found to be disguised as marketing expenses."

They have said that more amount would be unearthed if the foreign accounts are accessed.