Sleuths of the Income Tax Department carried out an inspection at the headquarters of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) housed in a high-rise close to Secretariat here on Thursday.
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About 15 sleuths of the Income Tax office in Kochi stepped into the KIIFB headquarters situated opposite the Accountant General’s office shortly after noon close on a letter served by the Income Tax Additional Commissioner to the KIIFB.
The I-T department has sought details of KIIFB projects implemented in the last five years. It has asked the funding body to submit the details of the financial transactions made with the contractors who had been awarded various works funded by KIIFB in the last five years. The department has also sought the details of income tax paid for each development project funded by the KIIFB in the last five years in the State.
Official sources in the KIIFB were tight-lipped on whether the documents sought were being handed over to the I-T officials.
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‘Bid to corner LDF’
Meanwhile, Finance Minister T. M. Thomas Isaac, who last week made it clear that the KIIFB would give replies to the queries sought by the I-T department, said the inspection was meant to corner the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government as the elections to the State Assembly were only two weeks away.
Describing the inspection as an act of hooliganism, Dr. Isaac said the move was to tarnish the image of the KIIFB that was funding the development initiatives of the government across the State during the last five years. “Why didn’t they carry out such an inspection during the last five years and waited for the elections,” he asked.
With the approvals given by the executive and the governing body of the KIIFB till February 15 this year, the funds it has provided to infrastructure and development projects has touched ₹63, 250.66 crore. Of these, ₹43,250.66 crore is for 889 infrastructure projects and ₹20,000 crore for six land acquisition projects.