Auditor V. Vijay Sai Reddy has filed a complaint with the commissioner of income-tax against media baron Ramoji Rao for alleged tax evasion on an income of over Rs 3,550. The tax liability on this alleged income is estimated to be over Rs 1,000 crore.
“The worthless assets of Ushodya Enterpr-ises were valued at Rs 6,600 crores,” he alleged. Vijay Sai alleged that Usha Kiron Movies and Usha Kiron TV are valued astronomically high for their old movies and old serials, to an extent of Rs 787 crore.
He added, “Due to the Chandrababu connection, Reliance has not even bothered to appo-int a single director when they hold 39 per cent stake in Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt Ltd.”
He alleged that the total investment of RIL companies worth Rs 2,606 crore is in fact the benami money of Ram-oji and TD leader N. Chandrababu Naidu.
He said that the total amount of Rs 1,457 crore received by Ushodya from RIL’s briefcase companies was withdrawn by Ramoji Rao towards the purchase of software library and by dubious means.
Ramoji Rao sold the software library worth little more than “scrap value” for a whopping Rs 787 crore to Ushodya in 2006-07.
He said that the source of deposits worth Rs 303 crore in HDFC Bank at Lakdikapul by Ramoji Rao is not known.
He also accused that Ushodya had inflated its profits over four years to an extent of Rs 969 crore.
He asked the income-tax department to pass on the information to the commercial tax department for action.
In his letter, the auditor has also alleged that Ushodaya, which was valued at Rs 4,538 crore during the Blackstone deal, got 45 per cent higher valuation during the deal with Reliance’s companies a few weeks later.