Fastway evading `12,300-cr tax: Bains duo - COMPANY REFUTES ALLEGATIONS, SAYS IT IS PAYING ALL TAXES ON TIME
Tuesday, 16/06/2015
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CHANDIGARH: Independent MLA brothers from Ludhiana Simarjit Singh and Balwinder Singh Bains on Monday alleged that Fastway group was involved in a scam to the tune of `12,377.86 crore through the evasion of income tax, service tax and other taxes payable to the state and central governments.
Reacting to the allegations, Fastway’s head of operations Rajdeep Singh said these were baseless charges cooked up on the basis of vindictive information provided by some miscreants. He added that the company was paying all taxes on time and clarified that the Badal family had no link with Fastway.
Refuting other allegations levelled by the brothers, Rajdeep said Fastway had no connection with Gujarat Telelink, adding that the company was using the infrastructure of Connect and other companies, not the poles of the electricity department. He claimed that entertainment tax of `15,000 per annum was due to be paid by the company.
Earlier, addressing the media, Simarjit said: “The Fastway company, which is indirectly owned by the ruling Badal family, owes `2,591.89 crore as service tax, `4,729.7 crore as income tax, `1,487 crore (tax deducted at source), and `84 crore (entertainment tax), payable to state and central government agencies.” He further said that the Fastway group owed `1,290.94 crore to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), `1,785.45 crore to the Punjab police, and `408 crore to civic bodies of the state for laying underground cables.
The brothers said they had sent details of the scam to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley and asked the two leaders to take action. “Fastway transmission private limited came into existence in 2008. Within five years, it had 14 sister companies. Founded with an investment of `2.5 lakh, it earned `6.5 crore in one year by doing a business of `30 crore,” said Simarjit.
He also said that two directors of Orbit resorts owned by the Badal family, Yogesh Shah and Jagjeet Singh Kohli, had 49% share in Fastway.
Meanwhile, the brothers announced that their Team Insaaf would soon form a political party which would contest the 2017 assembly elections on all 117 seats in Punjab.
