Tax department conducts searches at Chettinad Group

Chennai, June 10  A 450-member team of the Income Tax Department is conducting searches at offices of the Chettinad Group of companies in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, officials said on Wednesday.

The searches are on at 40 locations in the three states. "The reason for the raid is suspected evasion of taxes," a department official told IANS.

The searches come a day after M.A.M. Ramaswamy, the former chairman and director of the company, alleged that Chettinad Cement owes the government a huge sum in sales tax dues.

"The government has told the company to pay up a minimum of around Rs.252 crore before negotiations can take place," Ramaswamy said at a press conference called to disown his adopted son M.A.M.R. Muthiah, the managing director of the group.

Asked for clarifications, Muthiah had told IANS: "The company does not owe any sales tax dues to the government. The company pays its dues every month."

"Ramaswamy is an outsider to the company. He is not associated with the company in any capacity now. One should not take an outsider's charges seriously and ask for clarifications," he said.

Ramaswamy was ousted as a director of Chettinad Cements last year.