Income tax, Enforcement directorate officials meet over foreign funds

Was there a secret meeting between officials of the income tax (I-T) and enforcement directorate (ED)? It is learnt that the tax sleuths met in Mumbai recently to discuss if certain deals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines.

Sources say four officials — two each from the IT and ED — met on Tuesday to discuss the deals signed by the IPL with offshore companies. The purpose of the meeting was to see if the deals were in conformity with Fera (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) rules.

The exact nature of the discussion among them is not known but a couple of those officials had flown down from New Delhi to see if the IPL had kept the RBI in the loop over the deals they signed with foreign companies.

“The meeting was to exchange information and see if the RBI has been informed about it. RBI is the nodal agency and it has to be informed about all the deals,” said a source on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, reports said, a team of tax sleuths is being sent by the government to Mauritius to probe certain companies through which several hundred crores of rupees are suspected to have been routed into some consortiums owning IPL teams.

The decision to send the teams was taken after a preliminary probe by central investigative agencies showed that large amounts of funds were moved through specific Mauritius-based firms which were set up in 2008 when the first IPL came into being. The special team consisting of members of the economic offences wing of the finance ministry will leave for the tax haven soon.