Duty evasion scam: Two Customs officers arrested
Two Customs and Central Excise officers have been arrested by the CBI in connection with a tax evasion scam that also saw the arrest of Adani Group MD in Gujarat. Both the senior officers were apprehended from their residences in Goa on Tuesday and will now be taken for remand in a local court, Superintendent of Police (CBI) (ACB) S S Gavli said on Tuesday. “The Excise officers arrested are currently in service and were involved in the scam that took place sometimes during 2006-07,” he said.
The accused are among the 10 Excise officials under suspicion in connection with the scam running into crores. Rajesh Adani was arrested on Saturday in Gujarat and was granted bail by a court little before he was brought to Goa on a transit remand. The CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau in Goa had received the complaint in 2008 which claimed Excise evasion on the three consignments of naphtha and furnace oil. Besides, the accused had stored the material in the state although the requisite licence for the same had expired. The scam was calculated to the tune of Rs 1.07 crore. The Central agency has also booked a case against two firms — Mumbai-based clearing house firm Ganesh Benzoplast and J A F Leitao and Sons in Goa — under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property) and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.