Redington India under scanner over tax fraud

Call it a sheer case of mismanagement or negligence, but Redington India is under scanner of the Mumbai Octroi collection authorities these days. A recent incident indicates that the distribution major is in trouble due to the Octroi tax evading activities. The DQWeek has in its possession an exclusive BMC document related to the issue.

BMC inquiries revealed that something was missing in the Octroi tax receipts, collected by BMC officials from April 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012, from end-users. It was also noticed that the receipts did not match with the details, including the tax receipt number, fed on the Octroi website, provided by the distributor to the tax collection authorities.

Hence, the tax receipts collected for the stipulated time period, were found to be fake. In addition, when the National Distributor was issued a notice by the BMC to submit further details of a thorough verification, Redington India failed to do so.

When P S Neogi, president, IT products, Redington India, was asked about this case of fraud, he stated, "I do want to comment on this issue. Neither do I deny or agree to this matter."

However, a BMC official, under the request of anonymity, confirmed that investigations are under process over the issue. Internal sources also informed that a separate investigative committee had been formed to look into this matter.

Meanwhile, supply of products from Redington India to Mumbai has been seized until the investigations are over, according to a BMC document.