‘PEOPLE SAY I HAVEN’T SPENT THE MONEY, BUT I HAVE NOT WASTED IT’
Actor Sonu Sood breaks his silence, speaks for the first time after the income tax raid
I can’t even get a penny from abroad into my foundation.
SONU SOOD, Actor
Zabardast” is Sonu Sood’s reply, when we ask how he is doing. The actor made headlines when it was revealed that his premises and house were raided by Income Tax officials for alleged tax evasion. Everything that he did during the past one and a half years to help people came under the scanner.
Fingers were pointed at how out of ₹18.94 crore collected for helping people, only ₹1.9 crore was used. “It was not lying unused, we use it every single day. The money is transferred to hospitals, educational institutes. We scrutinise, make sure it goes to a needy person,” he says.
Another allegation was unpaid income tax dues, amounting to ₹20 crore. Sood says he has provided all the required papers. “I am a law abiding citizen, I’ll make sure what they need will be provided even in the middle of the night,” he adds.
Addressing the foreign donations worth ₹2.1 crore, which have violated the FCRA norms, Sood says his foundation does not come under it. “It takes three years for that. I can’t even get a penny from abroad into my foundation. The fund is still with the crowdfunding platform. Violation happens when the fund comes to India, and that hasn’t happened. If someone needs help, we get all the papers from the hospital, scrutinise them, send them to the platform and ask them to send that amount. That money goes directly from them to the hospital,” says Sood, as he denies any financial dealing with the infrastructure company he is alleged to have links with.