Kingpin of Rs4,500 cr scam in HP detained by Dubai police
Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan,December 25
CASE IN NUTSHELL
E&T Dept detected fraud on Feb 18, 2014; huge mismatch in return filed by firm and VAT declaration
AdvertisementOwner Rakesh Sharma owed the dept Rs2,175.51 cr; banks Rs2,167 cr; I-T Dept Rs 750 cr
His firm owed Rs20 cr towards Employees Provident Fund, HPSEB, Labour Department
Company officials closed the operations surreptitiously in March 2014 and vanished
22 persons, including 9 company employees, booked in the case in April 2016
The state CID achieved a major breakthrough in the Rs 4,500 crore embezzlement scam with the Dubai police detaining its kingpin and MD of Paonta Sahib-based Indian Technomac Company Limited against whom a red-corner notice was issued by the Interpol on October 15. The CID will now begin the extradition proceedings.
Sandeep Dhawal, SP, CID, said they would be required to complete the requisite formalities, including sending proof of his involvement in the scam, to the Dubai police. A request would also be made to the MEA for his extradition.
Sources said CID officials had been trailing Rakesh Sharma’s movements for the past several months. On learning of his detention in a Dubai jail in a cheque bounce case, they stepped up efforts to nab him. The Economic Intelligence Unit of the Excise and Taxation Department detected the fraud on February 18, 2014, as a huge mismatch was found in the return filed by the company and the VAT-26-A declarations. The company, manufacturing steel and raw material, ferroalloy and steel ingots, had become liable to pay tax from January 2008.
Besides owing Excise and Taxation Department Rs 2,175.51 crore, he owed various banks Rs 2,167 crore and the Tax Department Rs 750 crore.
Twenty-two persons, including nine company employees (two company directors), two statutory auditors, an Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, two Excise and Taxation Officers and three Excise and Taxation Inspectors, were booked in the case in April 2016.
Company officials closed the manufacturing operations surreptitiously in March 2014 and vanished. While it has emerged as the biggest tax fraud in the state, it is intriguing that accountability of officials in various departments, who failed to detect the fraud at the initial stages, has yet to be fixed by the state government.
