I-T raids find ‘evasion of over Rs 1,350 crore’ by solar power group

On April 7, income tax officers raided 52 locations, including in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, linked to close aides of Nath and others for alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions.

IT searches, IT raids, IT raid Kamal Nath, Income Tax Department, Kamal Nath nephew tax raidm tax evasion, Ratul Puri IT raid, Indian express

The CBDT further said the group was operating through a maze of shell companies and indulged in bogus billings, over-invoicing of imports and round-tripping of funds.

Following up on searches conducted on premises linked to aides and relatives of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath earlier this month, the Income Tax Department has detected alleged tax evasion of more than Rs 1,350 crore during search and seizure operations against Hindustan Powerprojects, a company owned by Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri, sources said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday said raids were conducted earlier this month at offices of the solar power group at several locations in the National Capital Region, Bhopal, Indore and Goa by the Delhi unit of the Directorate General of Income-tax (Investigation) based on “credible information” of large scale collection, possession and movement of unaccounted assets.

The CBDT statement, however, did not name the group.

“The raids were conducted at Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri’s company, Hindustan Powerprojects Pvt Ltd on April 7,” sources said.

Story continues below this ad

Puri had previously been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an investigation about the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

The CBDT further said the group was operating through a maze of shell companies and indulged in bogus billings, over-invoicing of imports and round-tripping of funds.

Alleged “accommodation entries” in the garb of bogus unsecured loans/share application money to the tune of Rs 370 crore were found by the department, it added.

They also found evidence of inflating expenses through bogus billing of Rs 330 crore in the case of a power plant of the group and the money so siphoned off was allegedly collected in US dollar through hawala operators.

Story continues below this ad

A handwritten diary containing records of ‘out of books’ cash receipts worth Rs 240 crore was also seized from the office.

With regard to over-invoicing of imports and round tripping of Rs 252 crore, the CBDT said, “During the search, evidence was found indicating that the group grossly over-invoiced its imports from original manufacturers by re-invoicing it through a shell company of a person who is an accused in a major defence scam. The surplus so created was ploughed back in the books as FDI through another shell company of the same person”.

On April 7, income tax officers raided 52 locations, including in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, linked to close aides of Nath and others for alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions.

Enquiries by taxmen also revealed that the group allegedly used the services of a Dubai-based operator to park unaccounted foreign remittances in overseas jurisdictions. Out of such remittances, about Rs 27 crore was alleged to have paid towards credit card expenses and Rs 72 crore for purchase of a property abroad.

Story continues below this ad

The CBDT also found bogus loans of Rs 30 crore in a group company and investigations revealed that the loan entry of Rs 30 crore in one of the group companies was an accommodation entry arranged by an entry operator against equivalent cash.

Unaccounted payment of Rs 9 crore towards the purchase of a property has also been detected and unaccounted assets of Rs 3 crore has been seized during the search.