CBI, ED action may follow I-T default probes

NEW DELHI: Trouble will now descend in threes for income tax defaulters with tax investigations coinciding or being followed by probes by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation, with the three agencies coordinating among themselves as well as using the power of higher-order data analytics, two government officials said on condition of anonymity. The idea is to identify major crimes behind tax cases, they added.

This doesn’t currently happen, one of the officials explained, which means that sometimes people get away lightly.

“Most of the violations under the income-tax law are compoundable and people used to get away easily by paying a penalty of 20% or so... serious crimes hidden behind tax violations can no longer remain hidden,” one of the officials cited above said.

The officials said that the two agencies and the tax department have been successfully able to detect and act swiftly against crimes of financial nature in recent months because of the help they get from data analytics and mutual cooperation and coordination. “HDIL [Housing Development Infrastructure Limited] is one such case where data analytics played a significant role and the ED could effectively act against the accused,’’ the first official said.

The official was referring to the alleged fraud involving the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. The PMC Bank allegedly created over 21,000 fictitious accounts to hide loans given to the bankrupt realty firm HDIL. The Reserve Bank of India last month took over the PMC Bank’s functioning and initiated a forensic audit besides capping withdrawals. HDIL and its directors, Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan, are accused in the fraud case.