I-T department doubts authenticity of Siddhartha's 'last note'
MUMBAI | BENGALURU: VG Siddhartha had admitted to more than Rs 480 crore of unaccounted income of his own and his company in 2017, the Income Tax Department said, as it sought to defend its action against the Café Coffee Day founder while also questioning the authenticity of a note he had purportedly written.
The statement comes after the note, accusing a “previous DG” of the income tax department of harassing him, went viral on social media. The news release from the office of the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Karnataka & Goa, claimed that the signature in the note did not match the one in his firm’s annual reports.
“The note written by Siddhartha mentioned about the attachment of Coffee Day shares by the Income Tax Department. The authenticity of the note is not known and the signature does not tally with Siddhartha’s signature as available in his annual reports,” the statement read.
The note, purportedly written by Siddhartha before he went missing on Monday night, didn’t name any tax official. The official who ordered seizure of the shares was BR Balakrishnan, who is currently the director-general of Income Tax (Investigation Wing) and also the principal chief commissioner of I-T for Karnataka and Goa.
Balakrishnan is set to retire on Wednesday. The press release was issued by his office. According to the release, while its officials were conducting searches on a prominent leader who is now in the opposition in Karnataka, they allegedly stumbled upon “transactions” done by CCD in a concealed manner. They found numerous messages on a mobile “which indicate his (Siddhartha’s) active involvement in cross-border hawala transactions”, an official familiar with the development told ET.
The letter purported to be written by Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha . I-T department contested its veracity.
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Following this, searches were carried out at the residence and offices of Siddhartha and his Coffee Day Enterprises, on September 21, 2017. The tax department said Siddhartha had admitted to unaccounted income in a sworn statement. “In the search action, after considering the evidence gathered by the department, Siddhartha admitted the unaccounted income of Rs 362.11 crore and Rs 118.02 crore, in the hands of Siddhartha and M/s Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd, respectively, in the sworn statement,” it said.
According to it, estimated tax liability with interest along with the maximum penalty leviable on this would be around Rs 447.47 crore on Siddhartha and Rs 188.69 crore on his company.
