Firm fixed income tax tribunal to secure over 60 favourable orders for its clients: CBI

Ravish Tiwari Posted online: Tue Jan 10 2012, 02:32 hrs

New Delhi : In a case that has sent shock waves through the top echelons of the government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to file a chargesheet against a Kolkata-based firm and a member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) for allegedly colluding to write favourable judgments for the firm’s clients.

The ITAT, a quasi-judicial body, is the highest income tax appellate authority. Its bench usually has two members — a judicial and an accountant member — who are selected by a selection board chaired by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

After a three-year-long investigation, the CBI is said to have identified at least 69 judgments where the firm, S K Tulsiyan & Co., not only had prior knowledge of these orders but in many cases is suspected to have written them as well. The most glaring case is that of the tribunal’s Kolkata bench — as many as 12 of its orders were recovered from Tulsiyan’s hard discs before these were delivered, the CBI has alleged.

The orders available with the firm were identical to those subsequently delivered by the Kolkata bench.

The CBI has claimed these judgments were prepared at Tulsiyan’s office and then transferred to Jugal Kishore, the accountant member of the ITAT bench in Kolkata, who pronounced them in a “pre-decided” manner.

Sanction for the prosecution of Kishore, an Additional Secretary-level officer, has already been granted. He will be booked under Sections of 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.

Way back in 2008, a CBI team caught Kishore allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30 lakh from two persons representing S K Tulsiyan & Co. Kishore was suspended pending investigations. Kishore allegedly received “gratification” for these decisions and CBI is also investigating a case of disproportionate assets against him.

S K Tulsiyan was arrested and is now out on bail. When contacted, Kishore declined to comment. Despite several attempts, no one from S K Tulsiyan & Co was available for comment.

The CBI also seized hard discs and pen drives from the premises of S K Tulsiyan & Co. These contained almost 75 judgments of which 69 were red-flagged.

The Kolkata case isn’t the only one. In as many as 57 other cases, orders were found with S K Tulsiyan & Co that were similar — with “minor changes” — to the final orders delivered by ITAT benches in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar between 2006-07 and early 2008.

The CBI used cyber forensics to track the movement of ITAT judgments and probe the storage discs of the accounting firm. Sources said the forensics report from CBI-CFSL came only late last year. The CBI also obtained the opinion of Government’s Examiner on Questioned Documents.

Sources say that this could be the “tip of the fixing iceberg” and inquiries are on against members of various ITAT benches across the country.

Tulsiyan’s clients included major business houses and entrepreneurs from Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Guwahati, said CBI. The agency said the firm acted as a “tout” between the appellate authorities and the appellants causing the government to lose crores.

Apart from S K Tulsiyan, his son Ravi Tulsiyan and brother Sajjan Kumar Tulsiyan will also be named in the chargesheet. Kolkata businessman Subhash Bajoria and a middleman Nishant Jain are also among those who will be chargesheeted before a Kolkata court.

The association of Tulsiyan and Kishore goes back to 2000 when both participated in lectures organised by Institute of Chartered Accounts of India (ICAI). Kishore was appointed member of ITAT first at Chandigarh in September 2003 where he served for several years before being moved to Kolkata.

The CBI has also asked Income Tax authorities to ascertain the loss caused to the exchequer through these favourable judgments.

‘Nationwide probe on’

Most glaring case: 12 orders of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’s Kolkata bench were found with CA firm S K Tulsiyan & Co. before they were delivered.

CBI says judgments were prepared at the office of S K Tulsiyan & Co. and then transferred to Jugal Kishore (above), the accountant member of the ITAT bench in Kolkata, who pronounced them in a “pre-decided” manner.

In 2008, CBI caught Kishore allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30 lakh from S K Tulsiyan & Co. Kishore was suspended pending investigations.

In 57 other cases, orders were found with Tulsiyan that were similar to the final orders of ITAT benches in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar from 2006-08.