For Kosaraju Veeraiah Chowdary, investigating black money and tax evasion cases has been the nucleus of his career that spanned over three decades in the income tax department.
This was especially so during the fag end of his career when – as Director General (Investigations) in Delhi and as Member (Investigations) in CBDT – he handled several high-profile tax probes, including the 2G spectrum allocation case and the HSBC Geneva taxpayers list.
In his appointment, the tradition of having an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer occupy the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner has ended.
Chowdary’s anti-black money crusade and expertise on financial investigations besides awareness of big black money cases stood him in good stead even after he demitted office as CBDT Chairman in October 2014.
The government had no hesitation in appointing him as an advisor to the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.
Chowdary – who has a Masters in Mathematics from IIT Madras – was a 1978-batch Indian Revenue Service Officer and had a three-month stint as CBDT Chairman before retiring in October 2014. He is also credited with initiating a host of new steps to enhance and build up the intelligence and investigation capabilities of the income tax department.
Chowdary’s latest appointment also had its own share of controversies with some legal luminaries like Ram Jethmalani and Prashant Bhushan criticising the government and questioning his credentials for the job.