The investigation report on alleged tax evasion prepared by Inland Revenue Department (IRD), which was made public by Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota, suspects involvement of Nepal´s top corporate houses including Arun Intercontinental, United Builders, Jagadamba Steel, Varun Developers, Biswokarma Cement, Maruti Cement, Dugar Auto Clinics, CG Electronics, Jagadamba Trading Concern, Chamelia Hydropower, CG Impex, United Distributors, Morang Auto Works, Bhat-Bhateni Department Store and CG Foods.[break]
NIC issued the directive on the basis of an application registered by Tara Nath Dahal of Freedom Forum - an NGO advocating people´s right to information. Dahal had filed application at NIC as per the Right to Information Act on July 10 after the Ministry of Finance (MoF) refused to disclose the names of firms and the amount evaded. NIC had directed the MoF to disclose the details the following day.
NIC, however, directed the ministry not to disclose details of amount allegedly evaded by those firms. Freedom Forum appealed to the NIC again on Aug 15 after the MoF cold-shouldered the NIC directive. NIC issued another directive on Oct 15, directing the MoF to disclose names of the firms within 15 days.
Former finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, citing Income Tax Act, had told parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) a few months ago that the government cannot disclose the names of the firms being investigated for revenue evasion.
The report also discloses details of the firms that are currently under investigation on alleged tax evasion amounting to more than Rs 10 billion. The report also named a number of firms that received VAT refunds from the government by producing fake VAT bills.
According to the report, Sarita Enterprises received Rs 5.5 million, Sarita International received Rs 5.3 million, Ashutosh Impex received Rs 17.2 million, Shiva Shakti Impex received Rs 16.9 million, Digambar Trade House received Rs 11.26 million, Digambar Trade International received Rs 45.6 million and Bhimeshwar Trade House received Rs 14.3 million as VAT refund.
“It´s a great achievement, considering that even the PAC had failed to get the details of the suspected firms from the government,” Dahal told media persons after receiving investigation report from Baskota.
IRD has slapped tax bills of Rs 3.45 billion on firms found involved in 365 cases of fake VAT bills scam. The department has been looking into 518 cases of revenue evasion running into billions of rupees. Some of the firms have cleared tax dues amounting to Rs 61.9 million.
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