The Income Tax department has detected over Rs 400 crore in tax evasion by Chennai-based MGM Group, a diversified conglomerate with business interests in alcohol, logistics, amusement parks and consumer product, sources told FE.
The tax department carried out search and seizure operations on June 15, 2022, on the industrial group at more than 40 premises located in Chennai, Villupuram, Puducherry, Coimbatore and Hyderabad, it said in a statement without naming the company.
During the search operations, various incriminating documentary and digital evidence have been seized.
“The analysis of such evidence indicates that the assessee group has indulged in large-scale tax evasion exceeding `400 crore by debiting non-genuine purchase bills in the books of account of varied businesses,” the tax department said.
These non-genuine purchase bills were either obtained from its regular material suppliers or accommodation entry providers, it said. “On gleaning, the seized evidence have also revealed that the payments made to the material suppliers through cheque have been received back in cash for making unaccounted investments and also for other purposes.”
The group is also found to be controlling, back-office operations of its international chain of hotels, from India.
So far, the search action has led to the seizure of undisclosed cash of Rs 3 crore and unaccounted gold jewellery worth Rs 2.5 crore, the tax department said. Further investigations are in progress, it added.
