KOCHI: The Income Tax Department which conducted raids on various facilities of the Elegance Group, including bar hotels, offices and the residences of the director and managers, received information that they had evaded income tax of more than Rs 20 crore. The Income Tax officials have seized documents, hard disks and pen drives from the raids that took place at 12 bar hotels, offices, as well as the residences of director Binoy Joseph and managers of the other business establishments under the group.
According to sleuths, the raid that started on Tuesday evening continued till Wednesday morning in some places. “From the preliminary information we collected from the raid, the tax evasion was much higher than we had anticipated. The group has evaded tax of more than Rs 20 crore. After examining the seized documents, we would receive clear details about the amount they have evaded. The company had shared inaccurate tax and revenue details with the department,” Income Tax official said.
The bar hotels in Perumbavoor, Angamaly, Palakkad, Kottayam, Kanjirappally, Karukachal, Nedumkandam, Aluva, Chalakkudy, Cherupuzha, Maliyankara and Vazhakulam were raided. Searches were also conducted on the residences of Binoy Joseph in Kochi and Aluva. Also, the offices, the other business establishments and residences of the managers of the company in Ernakulam, Kottayam, Palakkad, Alappuzha and Idukki districts were raided. The officials also conducted raids on the office and residence of Sunil Swamy a businessman in Kollam. However, the officials denied that raids had any links with bar bribe issue.