Three auditors of Price Waterhouse and co grilled in Rs 3,000 cr Nokia tax evasion scam

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Income Tax officials grilled three auditors of global auditing firm Price Waterhouse and Co on Wednesday over Rs 3,000 crore tax evasion by Nokia India.

Income Tax sources told Express that a total of four auditors from PW and Co were summoned for the enquiry. Three of them arrived while a fourth one sent her representative. “We have asked the fourth auditor to appear on Monday,” the sources said.

The investigation into the Rs 3,000 crore Nokia Tax evasion took a new turn when several incriminating documents were seized by Income tax department while conducting investigations into the tax evasion by Nokia India pinpointing to the alleged role of PW and co in giving wrongful advices and filing false statements for the company.

Income tax sources said the auditors from PW and Co were grilled for nearly 10 hours by 20 officials of Income Tax department.

“The investigation started at around 11 am and finished at 8.30 pm,” sources said.

Income Tax sources said the three auditors would be grilled again on Thursday along with Nokia India executives who will be arriving here from Delhi.

The tax fraud by Nokia came into light following a survey carried out under Section 133 A of the Income Tax Act. It was found that the company has changed its accounting model and was in the process of re-organising the existing business model to bypass certain direct and indirect tax liabilities.

Income Tax sources also said that the Income tax department is also likely to collect the Rs 2500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore worth tax evasion by Nokia India by the end of this financial year.

Price Waterhouse was already in the loop over India’s biggest scam involving Satyam Computer services. Even the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has penalized the firm for its failed audits of Satyam Computer Services for falsely reporting more than $1 billion in profits.