Chargesheet against Himachal firm in multi-crore scam

Shimla, Jan 5 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet in a trial court in Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district against the director of a company and its officials for an alleged embezzlement running into thousands of crores, including bank loans.

Accused director of Indian Technomac Company Ltd, Vinay Kumar, son of former bureaucrat M.L. Sharma, who was Deputy Commissioner in Sirmaur where the company was located, was named in the chargesheet, along with seven others, including officials of the Excise and Taxation Department.

The financial embezzlement allegedly involving over Rs 5,000 crore is one of the biggest scams in the state. The case is being investigated by different investigating agencies for the past five years.

The company closed the manufacturing operations in March 2014 and its officials disappeared.

While the Excise and Taxation Department had suffered tax evasion of Rs 2,175 crore, banks were defaulted to the tune of Rs 2,167 crore and the Income Tax Department owned Rs 750 crore.

Investigations say 21 companies were constituted by the company from 2009 to 2013 and the modus operandi was siphoning off bank loans.

The fraud came to light in 2014 when the Excise and Taxation Department found a mismatch in the return filed by the company and its VAT declarations.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against the company officials in 2016.

The company was manufacturing steel and raw materials, ferro alloys and steel ingots, and it had become liable to pay tax from January 2008.

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