Holder of Guyana’s largest forest concession investigated

An Indian businessman known for his famous coffee houses and with holdings stretching to Guyana is under investigation for tax evasion in his home country. According to news reports from Business Today, on Sunday, days after Income Tax Department first raided the premises of India’s largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) and that of its owner, VG Siddhartha, officials found Rs 650 crore concealed income from the documents seized. The discovery was made during search and seize operations on Sunday. The documents seized from the search operations at 25 places of Cafe Coffee Day and its group companies in Karnataka, Mumbai and Chennai have revealed concealed income of over Rs 650 crore. “There are a number of other issues, including violations of other statutes on which there is no disclosure but relevant evidence has been found. These will be pursued effectively as part of our investigation,” the report quoted a tax official, as saying. In Guyana, Cafe Coffee Day has a local subsidiary, Vaitarna Holding Private Incorporated (VHPI), which is currently the holder of the largest single piece of forest concessions in Guyanaapproximately 738,000 hectares, around the Wineperu area, in Region Seven.

VHPI has in the past come under scrutiny after several reports began to surface that the company was exporting raw lumber. The exportations of logs rather than processing the timber locally, has long been a concern since numerous promises have been made by the previous administration and foreign investors about value-added operations. Rather investors, using bribes and Guyana’s vast terrain, concentrated on the raw log exports. The concessions were awarded under the administrations of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic, which is in Opposition now. According to the Business Today report in India, the raids, which started on September 21, were carried out on offices and residence of Siddhartha and the company’s other officials in Bengaluru, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Mysuru in Karnataka.

(Kaieteurnews.com)