IT Dept conducts searches in Mumbai on BMC contractor’s part of probe into BMC standing committee Chairman Yashwant Jadhav case

IT Dept seizes particulars of about three dozen immovable properties worth more than Rs 130 crore

@the_news_21

Mumbai: The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on February 25 on certain contractors executing contracts of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a prominent person and their close associates. In all, more than 35 premises in Mumbai have been covered during the search operation.

During the course of the search operation, numerous incriminating documents, loose sheets and digital evidence have been found and seized. The evidence so seized strongly indicates a close nexus between these contractors and the said person.

Particulars of about three dozen immovable properties, whose value could be more than Rs. 130 crores have also been detected. It includes properties acquired either in their name or their associates or benamidars. Evidence of their involvement in international hawala transactions and routing of the ill-gotten money to certain foreign jurisdictions have also been recovered.

Loose sheets and excel files with details of unaccounted cash receipts and payments aggregating to several crores have also been found and seized, which have not been recorded in the regular books of account.

In the case of contractors, the seized documents reveal the modus-operandi adopted by them for large-scale suppression of taxable income by inflating their expenses. For this purpose, the prominent recourse employed by the said alleged contractors is over-invoicing of sub-contract expenses through a maze of entities and by claiming non-genuine expenses.

Certain instances show that cash has been taken out from these entities and the same has been utilized for obtaining undue favours for awarding of contracts and also for making unaccounted payments for investments in the said properties. The preliminary investigation indicates that these contractors have evaded income to the extent of Rs. 200 crores on account of the above malpractices.

During the search operation, undisclosed cash of Rs. 2 crore and jewellery of Rs. 1.5 crore have been seized so far. Further investigations are in progress, states an official press statement issued here by the IT department on Thursday.