Nov 17, 2021 | Business
The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations on 09.11.2021 in the case of a Fintech company providing instant short term personal loan through Mobile App. The searches were conducted on the business and residential premises in Delhi and Gurugram.
During the search, it was revealed that the company has been allegedly charging very high processing fee at the time of disbursement of loans. This results into effective higher burden of compensation on the borrowers. The said company is held by a group based in Cayman Island, ultimately controlled by an individual of a neighboring country. The company has brought in India nominal initial capital by way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) but took substantial working capital loans from Indian banks. The business model of the company results in high rotation of capital which is evidenced by turnover of Rs. 10,000 crore in its first year of operation.
It is seen that repatriation of about Rs. 500 crore has been made by it to its overseas group companies under the pretext of buying of services in two years. However, evidence gathered during the search has revealed that such remittances made to the group companies are either highly inflated or non-genuine. Evidences found also indicate that internal web-based application for lending business was controlled from outside India. During the search proceedings, statements of key persons including foreign nationals have been recorded.
Further investigations are in progress.
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RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1772665)
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Oct 27, 2021 | Business
The Income Tax Department carried out search and seizure operations in the cases of two groups based in Punjab.
The search action in case of the first group was initiated on 21.10.2021. This group is engaged in Cycle business. The group has been found to be involved in suppression of income by showing bogus intra-group transactions within group concerns. The group was also found to have been involved in receiving a substantial part of sale consideration in cash and thereby suppressing the turnover. The seized documents reveal suppression of turnover of around Rs. 90 crore per annum by a group concern. Incriminating documents related to the undisclosed sale of scrap have also been seized.
The search also revealed undisclosed investments by the group members in immovable properties.
The search action has led to detection of unaccounted income of about Rs. 150 crore. The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs. 2.25 crore and seizure of unaccounted gold of Rs. 2 crore in this group.
The second group, based in Jalandhar, is engaged in providing immigration & study visa related services to students. The search action in this group was initiated on 18.10.2021.
The search action has revealed that the group used to charge a package, ranging between Rs.10 lakh to Rs.15 lakh per student, depending on the country where the student wished to pursue education. Almost the entire receipts of the group, aggregating to more than Rs. 200 crore in the last 5 years are in cash. It has also been found that the bank accounts of the employees have been used to receive money, which has subsequently been withdrawn in cash. The profit earned from such receipts has never been disclosed in the Income Tax Returns filed. Only the commission received from foreign universities has been shown as receipts in the Income Tax Returns by the members of the group.
The search action has led to detection of unaccounted income of about Rs. 40 crore. The search action has also resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs. 20 lakh and seizure of unaccounted jewellery of Rs. 33 lakh.
Further investigations are in progress in both the groups.
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RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1766623)
Visitor Counter : 422
Oct 4, 2021 | Business
The Income Tax Department carried outa search and seizure operation on 30.09.2021 on 37 premises spread across multiple cities including Mumbai, Pune, Noida & Bangalore. These groups/individuals were in varied businesses such as cable manufacturing, real estate, textile, printing machineries, hotels, logistics etc.
During the course of the search operation, several incriminating documents, loose sheets, diaries, emails and other digital evidences etc. have been unearthed which indicates ownership of a large number of foreign bank accounts and immovable properties, unreported to the Department. These groups/individuals utilized the services of a Dubai based financial service provider to create a dubious and complex web of foreign companies and trusts based in tax havens such as Mauritius, UAE, BVI, Gibraltar etc. to hold their unaccounted assets.
The credits in the bank accounts of these groups and individuals maintained by the Dubai based financial service provider exceed 100 Million US Dollars ( about Rs. 750 crore) accumulated over a decade and were found to be parked in bank accounts in Switzerland, UAE, Malaysia and several other countries. Evidences gathered during the search operation reveal that the undisclosed funds parked abroad have been used by these groups for acquiring immovable properties in several countries such as UK, Portugal, UAE etc in the name of defunct companies incorporated abroad, with funds layered through foreign bank accounts, for meeting the personal expenses of the promoters and their family members abroad and routing back funds in their Indian entities.
During the course of the search, evidence related to bogus payments to suppliers for generating cash, unaccounted cash expenditure, hawala transactions, over-invoicing have also been gathered. Unaccounted cash and jewellery to the tune of over Rs. 2 crore has been seized from the residential and business premises respectively. More than 50 bank lockers have been kept under restraint.
Further investigations are in progress.
RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1760842)
Visitor Counter : 472
