Mismatch between income, lifestyle led to raids

The suspicion that the lifestyle of television personality Rimi Tomi was glaringly incompatible with the income she reported to tax collectors had prompted the Income-Tad Department to conduct an on-the-spot inspection at her house in Kochi this week, according to tax enforcers.

Investigators said Ms. Tomi would be given a chance to explain the suspected disparity between her stated income and her apparent wealth, including recently acquired super luxury goods.

They were also inquiring whether the performer had omitted factoring in her sizeable revenue from foreign stage programmes into her IT returns. It was not immediately clear whether she had NRI status.

The I-T department had in the past stumbled upon cases where such “off the book” revenue earned by top paid performers in foreign stages had been routed back to the country through middlemen.

Such illegal transactions, which could be construed as money laundering, were a significant part of the State’s black economy. They placed an inequitable burden on genuine tax payers and cheated the State of funds for welfare measures, an official said.

In the past two years, the I-T department in Kerala had pointedly enhanced its efforts to identify high earners, including individuals and business entities, whose tax returns were not commensurate with their income tax payments. It has increasingly audited the lifestyle of suspected tax evaders, sought information on them from other agencies, followed leads from informants and unobtrusively monitored bank transactions and international fund transfers.

Movement of cash

The department had also conducted on-the-spot inspections of the houses owned by Gulf-based businessman Madathil Reghu in Kollam and his relative, Vinod Kumar Kuttappan, in Thiruvananthapuram. IT officials had reportedly stumbled upon the movement of huge amounts of cash from the Gulf into the bank account of Mr. Vinod. There was also speculation in official circles that the I-T department had conducted the inspections on the basis of inputs from legally conducted secret wiretaps. Tax enforcers had also stumbled upon some recent real estate purchases made by the assessed persons.

The high profile inspections had yielded sale agreements struck in the name of persons believed to be nominees (benamis) of the persons under I-T scrutiny.

However, investigators were tight lipped about whether or not the inspections were related to the Assembly election.