TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is looking at, at least 450 properties owned by foreigners ~including the 32 properties to whose owners the directorate has either sent show cause notices or the properties have been confiscated under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations, officials said Tuesday.
Of the 12 properties that were confiscated, the department has completed fixing of the boards announcing the confiscation at Ucassaim, Siolim and Anjuna. It will complete the fixing of boards at Morjim, Mandrem and Arambol Wednesday, department officials said.
The department had also sent 20 show cause notices to mostly British citizens on March 28 and around another 20 persons could be sent notices in the next quarter, depending on the decision taken by the special director based in Mumbai.
The foreigners had been asked to show cause as to why the properties should not be confiscated by the central government. “There appears to be contravention of section 6(3) (1) of FEMA read with regulation 8 of Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in
Officials said that this was an ongoing process.
Sources also said that another wing of the ED was investigating whether there was any illegal money involved though local officials were not willing to comment on the situation.
