The Hindu : CBI raids reveal IT refunds fraud

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

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CBI raids reveal IT refunds fraud

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 11. The Central Bureau of Investigation today claimed to have unearthed a scandal involving income-tax refunds for Rs. 87 lakhs on the basis of reportedly forged Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) certificates.

In its exercise to uncover the major tax refund fraud, the CBI carried out searches at 11 places in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab on the premises of senior income-tax officials, chartered accountants and advocates who had connived in the alleged cheating.

A CBI spokesman said the 11 places raided included Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jagraon in Ludhiana and Faridkot. The searches resulted in the seizure of a large number of documents, including cheques of different banks, rubber-stamps of fictitious companies, ledgers showing TDS refunds, photographs of individuals in whose names the refunds had been claimed and received, books of articles of associations of different companies, photocopies of forged TDS certificates, computers, income-tax refund files of bogus companies and original refund orders issued by the Income Tax Department.

One of the three FIRs said that five Income Tax officials entered into a criminal conspiracy with two chartered accountants to defraud the IT Department of Rs. 43.38 lakhs.

Cases have been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and several sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to cheating, forgery and conspiracy.

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