A mid-level income tax employee gained access to the computer systems of his superiors and managed to generate fake tax deducted at source (TDS) refunds running into crores, an Enforcement Directorate investigation has revealed. The agency has attached more than 30 properties across Maharashtra and Karnataka worth around Rs 70 crore in the money laundering case.
It has attached 32 plots acquired by siphoning off the government’s revenue in the form of TDS refunds amounting to Rs 263 crore. Senior tax assistant Tanaji Mandal Adhikari had gained the confidence of his seniors, including the commissioner, to gain access to their login IDs and passwords. He would ask his aides to submit fake TDS claims to the IT department and he would clear them fraudulently by accessing the accounts of senior officers using their login details.
Bank in which fraudulent TDS refunds were being deposited raised red flag
Senior I-T assistant Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, who used his aides to siphon off crores in fake TDS refunds, would credit the loot into the bank account of a firm named SB Enterprises which was controlled by a man identified as Bhushan Patil, an ED press release said. The ED probe found that within a year from November 2019, a total of 12 fraudulent TDS refunds were generated by Adhikari amounting to Rs 263 crore which were credited into SB Enterprises’ account. The refunds were made against claims shown as pending from assessment years 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Funds were subsequently transferred into other accounts of Patil and his associates and shell companies. The attached properties include land at Lonavla, Khandala, Karjat, Pune and Udupi, flats in Panvel and Mumbai besides three high-end cars (BMW X7, Mercedes GLS400d, Audi Q7). These properties are in the name of Adhikari’s associates Bhushan Patil, Rajesh Shetty, Sarika Shetty, Kriti Verma and others.
Earlier, the ED had frozen bank accounts with Rs 96 crore in the case and together with the recent Rs 70 crore attachment, assets and bank balance worth Rs 166 crore have been frozen or attached. Adhikari got exposed when a bank in which the refund amount was getting deposited raised a red flag. The CBI registered a corruption case against him and his associates for investigation. Subsequently, the ED too registered a case of money laundering. Sources said Adhikari’s associates had formed shell companies and opened bank accounts in their names. The accused would submit TDS claims to I-T on Adhikari’s instruction. He would clear it from the office after opening the accounts of his seniors on his computer using their credentials. The money laundering case was based on an FIR registered by the CBI on the basis of a written complaint it received from the additional director general (vigilance)-CBDT.
Source: timesofindia.com
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