Chennai: Searches conducted by the Income Tax Department at 16 locations in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cuddalore on an Information Technology SEZ developer and a prominent Chennai-based stainless steel supplier has led to the detection of over Rs 450 crore undisclosed income.
The searches were conducted on November 27, according to Surabhi Ahluwalia, Commissioner of Income Tax (Media and Technical Policy), who is also the official spokesperson of the Central Board for Direct Taxes.
“The evidence unearthed include unaccounted assets worth about Rs 100 crore accumulated by the ex-Director (of the IT SEZ) and his family members in the past three years. The search further unearthed that the IT SEZ developer claimed bogus work-in-progress expenses of about Rs 160 crore in an under-construction project,” he said in a release. “The entity has also claimed capital expenses of around Rs 30 crore on account of bogus consultancy fees in an operational project and inadmissible interest expenses to the extent of Rs 20 crore was also claimed by the entity,” he added.
Evidence found in the premises of the stainless steel supplier revealed that the group has been conducting three sets of sales: accounted, unaccounted and partly-accounted. “The unaccounted and partly-accounted sales amount to more than 25% of the total sales each year. Further the assessee group has provided sales accommodation bills to various customers and received commission of more than 10% on these transactions,” he added. The group is believed to have unaccounted income of Rs 100 crore.
