May take up to a year to book Games guilty
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New Delhi: A day after search operations on some 30 premises of firms and individuals who won contracts for the Commonwealth Games to probe possible tax evasion, revenue officials on Wednesday said cases will be formally framed in a year's time.
"These kind of investigations take three-six months. This is what we anticipate in this case also," a spokesperson for the Income Tax Department said, referring to the search operations in and around the national capital, as well as in Chandigarh and Ludhiana.
"But the tax returns of these firms will come only next year, around September. So only after that will our assessment reports be taken into consideration. So you can say it will be a year-long process," the spokesperson said.
"Also, in such matters we normally operate on our own, and not in coordination with some other agencies. The main consideration for us is to assess if there has been any tax evasion and see how to recover the same with penalty," the spokesperson added.
Among the various other agencies conducting a probe are the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Directorate of Enforcement, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the Central Vigilance Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Amid allegations of a major scam and corruption in the award of contracts for the just-concluded Commonwealth Games and demands for a parliamentary probe, income tax officials on Tuesday questioned all major Games contractors.
Among those whose premises the tax sleuths visited was the BJP's Sudhanshu Mittal - to look into the books of accounts and related documents and to probe possible irregularities in payment of taxes. His relatives had won some Games contracts.
The search operations followed a host of measures the government announced since the 12-day Games ended on October 14 to look into allegations of misappropriation of funds and questionable procedures followed for award of contracts for various projects.
Among the measures, the tenure of officials associated with the Games was extended to facilitate the probe, even as the country's top auditor said a report on its accounts and financial activities would be presented to parliament in three months.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also set up a high-level committee headed by former comptroller and auditor general VK Shunglu to look into all matters relating to the conduct and organisation of the Games.
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