Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 31: Officials of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who have been investigating the multi-crore IMA ponzi scheme scam, raided certain residences of income tax officers on Monday and undertook scrutiny. These officers have been facing the charge of extending assistance to IMA main accused Mansoor Khan, to carry out fraudulent transactions.

The raids were conducted at eight spots. The raids were aimed against the then deputy commissioner (income tax) and IRS officer, Saurabh Nayak, assistant commissioner of income tax, D Kumar, and individuals, Ashis Jain, Kiran Pamedi and Kaizal Basha. Five of the spots raided are located in Bengaluru whereas the others are located at Hosur and Salem in Tamil Nadu, as well as Karwar. The raiding party could lay hands on certain important papers and documents, it is said.

After receiving complaints of irregularities in the functioning of I Monetary Agency (IMA), income tax officers had raided the firm in 2017 and taken over account books and other documents. They found that tax deducted at source while paying interest to investors was not remitted to the income tax department as per rules. Even though huge cash transactions were reported, income tax officers had failed to take any action. It was found that certain accounts were seized by the department because of irregularities, but within a few days, the firm was allowed to operate them without giving reasons for such leniency. CBI sources said that IMA paid huge sums as bribe to officials to cover up its misdeeds. CBI also revealed that forensic auditing is in progress to identity the people who got money illegally through money laundering process and other large scale irregularities involved with this about Rs 4,000 crore fraud.

CBI officials, who have be investigating IMA scam since August 30, have already filed two chargesheets in the court.