Sales Tax scam comes to light

​Nizamabad: The irregularities relating to the payments of sales tax or, in other words, the sales tax scam is gradually surfacing in the Commercial Taxes Officer’s office in Bodhan, which has become a haven for tax evaders and defaulters.

Also, it has been proved that these irregularities amounting to more than Rs 40 crore took place during the years, 1998-2014 with the active connivance of the officials of the Sales Tax department.

Tax relating to VAT and CST were paid fake challan bills. Many petrol pump station dealers, showroom dealers, businessmen and owners of rice mills are involved as they paid the sales tax using fake challans.

Now, efforts are on to get back the taxes are going on under the supervision of the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Department Anil Kumar.

The officials of the commercial taxes department expect that the huge amounts which were siphoned off during the years 2010 and 2015 could be retrieved again.

Many facts would come to light if the records at the Bodhan CTO office are scrutinised, opined the officials. Right now they are busy collecting evidence or authentic proofs concerning the irregularities.

Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, Commissioner Anil Kumar said that he told the officials to take steps to recover the money from those who paid sales taxes and CST taxes through the bogus challans.

He said that complaints were lodged against an employee working in Bodhan CTO office and stringent action would also be initiated against 25 others involved in the irregularities. Till now, three persons were arrested, he added.

However, what is surprising is that it took so much time to unearth a scam of such magnitude involving Rs 40 crore.

The Commissioner and other officials were at a loss as to how the scam took place for so many years clandestinely without any suspicions. One of the reasons might be that scrutiny of records were done on a regular basis.

By: Panchareddy Srikanth