NEW DELHI: A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recommended that the ED and the CBI should probe as many as 35 jewellery houses in the country for misusing the 80:20 gold import scheme launched in 2013, for alleged money laundering, members of the panel said.
The members of the panel felt that like fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and owner of Gitanjali Gems Mehul Choksi, these jewellers misused the scheme for money laundering and that they should be investigated for violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, a member of the panel said on condition of anonymity.
In August 2013, the then UPA Government had introduced the 80:20 rule, which said traders would be allowed to import gold only after they had exported 20 per cent of gold from their previous import. The move was implemented in view of current account deficit due to a surge in gold imports.
The rule was scrapped in November 2014 after the NDA came to power. (AGENCIES)
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