An unaccounted income of around Rs 1,000 crore was detected by the IT department during searches at the five locations in Chennai and Madurai on November 4 in the case of a Chennai-based group operating in the IT Infrastructure sector.
According to the IT department, the group IG3 Infra Limited (formerly known as Indian Green Grid Group Limited), a public incorporated firm in February 2004 which owns Chennai One IT Special Economic Zone (SEZ), also suppressed foreign income received in the form of share subscription equivalent to Rs 200 crore, which is taxable in India in the hands of the shareholder.
Sleuths of the income tax department, who conducted searches, also unearthed evidence relating to investments in a Singapore registered company.
The shareholding of IG3 Infra Limited is held by two companies, one owned by the group searched, while the other is a subsidiary of a major infrastructure development and financing group, says the income tax department spokesperson.
The income tax department has initiated proceedings against IG3 Infra Limited under Black Money Act, 2015 for not disclosing foreign assets or beneficial interest in the financial assets schedule of the income tax returns. The present value of this investment exceeds Rs 354 crore.
It has further been found during the search that the group had acquired five shell companies recently, which were used to siphon out as much as Rs 337 crore from the main group company by raising bogus bills and without doing any real business in these companies.
Evidence has also been found regarding allotment of preference shares worth Rs 150 crore in 2009 in the group company by passing accounting entries only, in order to project inflated capital before banks and financial institutions to obtain finances. Allotment of another Rs 150 crore worth preference shares in 2015 from funds from group companies, who in turn took loans or entries, is being examined.
During the search, it was also found that the group had borrowed funds from banks on interest and diverted them to other group companies free of interest for investments in properties.
The total interest disallowance on this count works out to about Rs 423 crore.
Also, the search revealed that the group had purchased about 800 acres of land worth at least Rs 500 crore, in the names of various shell companies from the funds provided by the main group concern. Applicability of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 to these transactions is being examined.
