National
Special Court extends Sharma’s judical remand by seven days
A Special Court on Sunday extended the judicial remand of suspended Director General of Inland Revenue Department (IRD) Chudamani Sharma by seven days.A Special Court on Sunday extended the judicial remand of suspended Director General of Inland Revenue Department (IRD) Chudamani Sharma by seven days.
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had arrested Sharma on Friday from his office in Lazimpat on the charge of misappropriating billions of rupees by settling taxes in a questionable way as a member of the Tax Settlement Commission (TSC).
The anti-graft body produced him before the court on Sunday, seeking an extension of remain period by 30 days.
In a brief comment to the media after the court extended his remand, Sharma said, “We worked at the TSC as per the law. My arrest by the CIAA has made a mockery of Parliament that makes the law and the government that formed the commission.”
Although the TSC was headed by LD Mahat, the CIAA arrested Sharma first because he is in the position to destroy the evidence, according to an official of the anti-graft body.
The three-member TSC, formed by then finance ministry Ram Sharan Mahat in February 2015, had run into controversy after a report of the Office of Auditor General (OAG) in April called into question its decision to grant the tax exemption worth Rs21 billion to various enterprises.
The OAG report said that the TSC had exempted the enterprises from tax worth Rs21 billion that was only 68 percent of the total due or outstanding tax amount that needed to be collected.
Following assessments of taxes that were due or outstanding till the fiscal year 2012-13, according to the report, most of the enterprises were granted tax exemption not because disputes had reached the court but because they were not willing to abide by the instructions of the tax authorities.
The TSC had received 1,726 applications seeking settlement of due tax amount worth Rs40.8 billion.
“It had reviewed 1,069 applications from which due tax amount of Rs30.5 billion should have been recovered. But during the course of negotiations, the commission exempted tax worth Rs21 billion and recovered only Rs9.5 billion,” the OAG report said.