HYDERABAD: As many as 20 income tax officers (ITOs) and junior officials in Telangana may soon be in trouble for amassing illegal assets. Their financial transactions, including investments in movable and immovable properties, are being monitored by the IT department’s vigilance wing, which is cracking down on black sheep in the department.
“ITOs and staff are supposed to process IT returns, raise tax demands on those who hide taxable income and go after tax defaulters. But some officials took advantage of loopholes and misused their power to amass assets,” said a source in the IT department.
Held big fat weddings, gifted cars to relatives
These “tainted” officials work in Hyderabad, Warangal, Nizamabad and Karimnagar, the source added.
They organised big fat weddings for their children, spent huge amounts of money to buy palatial houses in and around Hyderabad, and gifted high-end cars to their relatives.
Five officials in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, who were earlier forced to resign following charges of corruption, allegedly invested in several businesses under benami names and purchased high-end cars during demonetisation, officials of the vigilance wing are understood to have learned.
Sources said that the government has directed officials of the vigilance wing to identify the tainted officers and build a case to sack them in a phased manner. In the fifth phase, at least 20 ITOs, including five officers from the Telugu states, were asked to resign months before their retirement.