The Income Tax department has busted a major racket involving bogus billings and hawala transactions, revealing the siphoning of funds by way of bogus contracts to the tune of ₹3,300 crore across the country.
This was as a result of search operations targeting a group of people who had been issuing bogus bills and carrying out hawala transactions. The searches were carried out in the first week of November and covered 42 premises across Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Erode, Pune, Agra and Goa, according to an official statement.
The operations resulted in the busting of a major racket of cash generation by leading corporate houses in the infrastructure sector through bogus contracts/bills, it added.
According to the statement, funds meant for public infrastructure projects were siphoned off through entry operators, lobbyists and hawala dealers. The companies involved in the siphoning of funds are located mostly in the NCR and Mumbai. One such company had earlier been searched by the I-T department in April, it added.
The projects involved in the bogus billings are major infrastructure and EWS (economically weaker section) projects located in Southern India, the statement said. Evidence of cash payment of more than ₹150 crore to a prominent person in Andhra Pradesh had also been unearthed during the search, it added.
Unexplained cash to the tune of ₹4.19 crore and jewellery worth more than ₹3.20 crore were seized during the search operation. The department did not disclose the names of the persons or companies involved.
