FGG writes to Governor on decade-old Rs 500 crore tax scam

HYDERABAD: The Forum for Good Governance has written to the Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan asking her to take ‘quick action’ against the accused in a Rs 500 crore tax scam that took place a decade ago, as the accused have remained unpunished. The FGG also accused the Telangana Revenue Department ‘at Secretariat’ of not taking action. The FGG says it approached the Chief Secretary to expedite the case but to no avail. 

The FGG mentioned in its letter that the scam pertained to officials of Commercial Tax Department returning Rs 500 crore to some contractors, misusing a court judgement. Later, the Vigilance and Enforcement Department found that the concerned officials were at fault. The State ought to have pressed criminal charges against the tax officers. But this wasn’t done, said the FGG. The accused officers were simply served articles of charges following which they approached the tribunal and later HC where the case is pending.