NEW DELHI, Feb 26: On Thursday, the CBI executed searches at 18 locations nationwide after filing a case against an IRS officer along with other officials from the Income Tax department. They were allegedly involved in sharing confidential data concerning pending assessments with a group of chartered accountants, bypassing the faceless assessment system, according to officials.
The FIR filed by the CBI includes charges against Deputy Commissioner Income Tax Vijayendra R, stationed at the Jhandewalan office in New Delhi, purported CA Dinesh Kumar Agrawal, along with Income Tax inspectors Dinesh Kumar Verma and Binayak Sharma, and five additional chartered accountants.
The other CAs implicated in the investigation include Shivratan Mangelal Singrodia, Bhavesh Parshottambhai Rakholia, Prathik Lenin, Malik Girish Anand, and Sushil Kumar.
“Recently, the Government of India has implemented a series of forward-thinking reforms in Direct Tax administration aimed at benefiting taxpayers and the economy. The ‘Faceless Scheme of Assessment’ is one such reform that eliminates direct human interaction between taxpayers and tax officials,” stated a CBI spokesperson.
The group of CAs, in collusion and as part of a criminal conspiracy with certain income tax officials, illicitly and secretly disclosed the identities of assessing and appellate officers to the concerned assessees. They also unauthorizedly utilized sensitive income tax data related to pending assessments or appeals and significant refund cases to approach the respective assessees or their CAs for financial gain, as reported.
Searches were carried out in locations including Delhi, Mumbai, Thane, West Champaran (Bihar), Bengaluru, and Kottayam (Kerala), leading to the recovery of incriminating documents and evidence of improper payments, as well as digital electronic evidence, according to the statement.
The FIR was filed following the conclusion of a preliminary inquiry initiated based on a complaint from the Income Tax department.
The complaint indicated that the Income Tax department had performed a search on Agrawal last year, and during the analysis of his phone, a network of chartered accountants was uncovered that compromised the identities of assessing officers involved in the faceless assessment system to gain undue advantages.
Agrawal, either directly or through other CAs and private individuals acting as nodal officers in various states, reached out to the assessees, offering to resolve pending cases favorably in exchange for financial benefits, as alleged in the complaint and preliminary enquiry findings that are now included in the FIR.
It is claimed that their actions attempted to undermine the purpose of the ‘Faceless Scheme of Assessment’ implemented by the government, as stated by the CBI spokesperson.
“The information disclosed by these accused enables the assessees to directly contact the Assessing/Appellate officer. Thus, the accused were attempting to dismantle the ‘Faceless Scheme of Assessment’ established by the Government of India,” the CBI statement elaborated.
Agrawal represented himself as a political figure and claimed to have campaigned for BJP leaders while asserting his role as a liaison agent for various government departments, as detailed in the complaint documentation.
From the analysis of his phone, the tax department also discovered chats with a number that Agrawal claimed belonged to Deputy Income Tax Commissioner and 2015 batch IRS officer Vijayendra R.
These chats indicated that Vijayendra shared information regarding assessment officers and related issues, including details on various pending cases within the faceless proceedings, with Agrawal, according to allegations made by the tax department.
“This information is subsequently relayed by Dinesh Kumar Agrawal to various CAs to facilitate coordination with interested assessees for favorable resolutions with faceless AOs/CsIT(A),” it stated.
The department reported that Vijayendra R acknowledged ownership of the relevant mobile phone in his statement.
However, the CBI’s preliminary enquiry indicated that Vijayendra R and the inspectors allegedly shared sensitive information with Agrawal, leading to their involvement in the case. (Agencies)
