Bizarre: How does Tirupur bizman have US T-bills worth billions?

The ‘US Treasury bonds’ worth Rs 28,000 crore seized by the the Income tax officials from a businessman in Tirupur district are most likely fake. According to a report in The Hindu, The US Treasury Department has largely dispensed with issuing paper T-bills and has certainly not issued any with a denomination as high as $1 billion. A similar case was reported in Italy in February last year. Eight people were arrested on charges related to the seizure of $6 trillion in fake United States Treasury bonds, in a mysterious scheme that stretched from Hong Kong to Switzerland to the southern Italian region of Basilicata, reported New York Times. Later, American officials told the media that the US does not sell a $1-billion treasury bond. [caption id=“attachment_578179” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Fake US treasury bond. Reuters[/caption] Recent media reports suggest fake US bonds are often used as collateral for loans or other transactions. Making bogus investment pitches and defraud individuals and even banks around the world is not uncommon.  US authorities say forgeries are an attempt to defraud several Swiss banks. In fact, According to The Los Angeles Times, the US Customs Enforcement has warned the public against such bogus bonds in circulation. The raids in Tripur, were carried out at the residence of Ramalingam at Upputhurai Palayam village on 31st December. The I-T Department action followed Ramalingam’s reported application to the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals, seeking sanction to set up a Rs 1,000-crore crude oil refinery in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. They said some documents, which appeared to be US Treasury Bonds with a face value Rs 28,000 crore, were seized from his possession and further investigation was on. Ramalingam is involved in the business of groundnut peeling equipment and used to make frequent trips to countries like Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia. A year ago, he had applied for sanction to set up the refinery in Thondi. The Income-Tax Department had kept a close watch on the movement and activities of Ramalingam in the last few months, which culminated in the raids, they said.