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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday mounted a sharp defense of the I-T searches in Uttar Pradesh and criticised former chief minister and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav for alleging that the searches were politically motivated.
“It is not BJP money,” she countered when asked about opposition charge that the ₹197.49 crore cash recovered from perfume maker Peeyush Jain in Kannauj was her party’s money and the tax authorities had initiated action by “mistake” and are now going after the person they had originally wanted to target.
She said Yadav is “shaken” by the I-T Department action. “How do you know whose money is it? Are you his partner? Because only partners know whose money is kept,” she charged.
‘Actionable intelligence’
She asked if the officials came empty handed. Recovery of money shows there was actionable intelligence, she said, adding the searches happening on Friday too were based on such inputs.
On Thursday, Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) said it recovered a total cash of ₹197.49 crore, 23 kg of gold and offending goods of high value after searches on a perfume-compound company. The proprietor of the firm Peeyush Jain has been arrested.
“No deposit of tax dues has been made by Odochem Industries from the seized money to discharge their tax liabilities and their tax liabilities are yet to be determined,” DGGI said in a statement.
This clarification has been issued after some reports said that DGGI has decided to treat the cash recovered as the turnover of the manufacturing unit and proposes to proceed accordingly. Some reports have even stated that after admitting his liability, Jain has, with the approval of DGGI, deposited ₹52 crore as tax dues. Thus, it is made out as if the department has agreed with the deposition of Jain and finalised the tax liability accordingly.
DGGI termed these reports as ‘purely speculative’, without any basis and seek to undermine the integrity of the ongoing investigations which are being carried out in a most professional manner based on specific intelligence against the party.
‘Case property’
The agency clarified that the total amount of cash in the ongoing case from the residential and factory premises of Jain has been kept as case property in the safe custody of the State Bank of India pending further investigations.
No deposit of tax dues has been made by Odochem Industries from the seized money to discharge their tax liabilities and their tax liabilities are yet to be determined.
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