New Delhi, April 13 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted massive searches against tax professionals and chartered accountants (CAs) here as part of its ongoing operation against shell companies, an official said.

The agency took the step under Prevention of Money Laundering Act to unearth the black money being channelled by the tax professionals using shell companies. 

Separate ED teams raided over two dozen premises of chartered accountants, company secretaries and other tax professionals in west Delhi's Karol Bagh, Model Town and Azadpur, and east Delhi's Dilshad Garden and Laxmi Nagar. 

"It is alleged that some tax professionals and chartered accountants channelled thousands of crores of rupees through shell companies. They also misused the banking channels in the financial fraud," the Enforcement Directorate official said.

The agency's motive was to find out the funds channelled by the shell firms being run by such professionals through money laundering and Hawala channels, said another official, adding that the action was part of the country-wide operation.

Earlier this month, the agency conducted searches at 500 shell companies suspected to be channelling black money.

On April 1, the agency conducted raids at 100 premises in 16 states against 300 shell companies.

The shell companies are non-trading firms set up with nominal paid-up capital and used as a vehicle for various financial manoeuvrings or kept dormant for future use for some other purpose.