HYDERABAD: Days after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials arrested two commercial tax officials under graft charges, the investigation agency has found that the accused officers had amassed wealth by collecting mamools.
Recently, Commercial Tax Assistant Mohammad Wasif Azam and Junior Commercial Tax Inspector Mohammad Asfaq were nabbed by the ACB for accepting a bribe of `40,000 in lieu of not imposing a penalty on an unbilled consignment and to ignore the irregularities.
The officers had reportedly amassed illegal assets by collecting mamools from businessmen for manipulating tax details and records, thereby causing losses to the government. During the preliminary probe, it was found that they used to keep files pending just so that they could serve notices to businessmen on the pretext of tax evasion. When businessmen approached them, they used to demand steep bribes to not take action against them.
The probe agency questioned the staff of the Commercial Tax Divisional Office at Abids in order to gather more clues. They have also requested traders to contact them and lodge complaints if they have ever been harassed by the accused officers.