Karnataka iron ore mining probe digs up benami dirt

BANGALORE: Where does the mining money come from and go to? Who are the mine owners in Bellary? Are the accounts in their names? There seem to be no answers.
The Lokayukta investigation into illegal mining in Bellary district has dug up this mine maze. What was evident was that there were benami transactions galore — at every stage of the mining activity — from obtaining licence to mining ore to exporting it to banking the money.
Sample this: There are 11 bank accounts relating to Bellary mining industry and thousands of crores of rupees are transacted in these accounts.But no one knows who the original owners are. Shockingly, at the end of the transactions, the balance is levelled to zero, even without mentioning in what mode the money was transacted. But no one knows where the money went to. These accounts are used for handling money coming from export of iron ore.
Showing some orders, the account holders raise invoices and withdraw some money in advance. When the payment arrives, the bills are discounted and balance amount mysteriously moves out of the account. This is suspected to be
the way black money is produced in the mining industry.
A shocked Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde is now planning to approach the RBI and Enforcement Directorate to assist them in the probe. "We need some well-experienced auditor to tell us how these accounts are transacted," Justice Hegde told TOI.
These bank accounts are just a few in the 'chain of benamis' the Lokayukta has found. "We presumed that 'benami' is one person handling the issue on behalf of others. But in Bellary, it is a chain of benami transactions. In many places, the person, in whose name the business is, may not even know that there is something like that exists. Besides, there is no link between one benami transaction and another," he stated.
There are various levels in mining industry — right from obtaining mining licence to export of ore. Though the entire business is run by one person, he handles each level in fictitious names. In the first place, many small mining licences are in fictitious names and the persons, in whose names the licence exist, are difficult to find.