CA, Seven Firms Booked for Facilitating Rs 186-Crore Illegal Foreign Remittances

A chartered accountant and the operators of seven entities have been booked by police for allegedly facilitating the illegal transfer of Rs 186 crore abroad between the financial years 2022-23 and 2026-27 through false Form 15CB certifications, bypassing mandatory tax scrutiny.

The case is the third to emerge from recent coordinated Income Tax department searches in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh into suspicious outward remittances. Earlier, two related cases were registered by the Hyderabad Central Crime Station and the Cyberabad Economic Offences Wing.

The latest first information report (FIR) was registered on August 22 by Arundalpet police in Guntur following a complaint lodged by Subhash Koritepati, assistant director of Income Tax (Investigation), Unit-IV(2), Vijayawada. Police booked chartered accountant Chinna Venkata Subramanyam Dama and others under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on charges of cheating, issuing false certificates, and using certificates known to be false.

The seven firms named in the FIR are Visno Software Creations and Technology, Vijuwal Secure IT Creations and Technology, Unic IT Services and Technologies, Skavenger Shipping and Logistics Private Limited, Pratyagra Shipping and Logistics, Trailokya Solutions, and an entity associated with Sai Kumar Nemala.

The case follows an August 18 search conducted at Dama's office in Guntur by the directorate of investigation of the Income Tax department, Hyderabad, under Section 247 of the Income Tax Act. Investigators found that Dama had allegedly issued Form 15CB certificates to entities that were later discovered to be non-existent at their registered addresses.

A physical verification by the Foreign Asset Investigation Unit-2 of the Income Tax department in Hyderabad revealed that the remitting entities had not filed income tax returns despite routing large sums of money overseas.

Form 15CB is a statutory tax determination certificate issued by a chartered accountant certifying the taxability of overseas remittances, the applicable tax deducted at source rate, and compliance with the Income Tax Act and double taxation avoidance agreements. Banks require the certificate before clearing certain foreign remittances.

Under Rule 37BB of the Income Tax Rules, the certifying CA is required to inspect agreements, books of account, and transaction records to verify withholding tax requirements. According to the complaint, Dama admitted in a recorded statement that he issued the certifications without verifying supporting agreements or accounting records, enabling the entities to secure bank clearances and bypass statutory due diligence.