Hyderabad: A chartered accountant has been booked by the Cyberabad economic offences wing (EOW) for allegedly facilitating fraudulent foreign remittances worth Rs 629 crore by issuing Form 15CB certificates to entities that income tax investigators claim were non-existent or lacked any physical business operations.The case was registered on Aug 22 based on a complaint filed by G Krishna Rao, deputy director of income tax (investigation), foreign asset investigation unit-1, Hyderabad, following searches conducted by the income tax department at the residence and office of CA Sravan Kumar Putha on Aug 18.EOW registered a case against 33-year-old Putha, along with unnamed remitter entities and other suspected intermediaries, under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.Rs 463 cr remitted through 1 entityAccording to the complaint, Stockpile Softech Solutions Pvt Ltd remitted Rs 463 crore abroad during 2022-23. Investigators alleged that the company was registered at an address in Visakhapatnam where it had never operated and that the premises had been occupied by another company for the past five years.Another remitter, Madhav Ram Ponapalli, allegedly transferred Rs 55 crore overseas in 2022-23 and a further Rs 109 crore in 2023-24. The complaint alleged that the entities involved in these transactions neither filed Income Tax returns nor maintained any physical business presence.Investigators alleged that these overseas remittances were facilitated through Form 15CB certificates issued by Putha in his capacity as a CA.Issued without verificationForm 15CB is a tax determination certificate issued by a CA for specified foreign remittances exceeding Rs 5 lakh in a financial year. The certificate records details of the payment, its taxability, applicable tax deducted at source and provisions under relevant double taxation avoidance agreements before funds are remitted abroad.The FIR alleged that Putha issued the certificates without examining the books of accounts, invoices or other supporting transaction documents. It claimed that during his statement to investigators, he admitted that he had not seen or verified such records relating to the entities concerned.According to the complaint, the certifications enabled the remittances to pass banking and regulatory scrutiny. Investigators alleged that the CA and other unidentified persons operated as part of a syndicate that facilitated the transactions for financial gain.The allegations are part of the FIR and remain under investigation. The accused could face a jail term of seven years if the charges of cheating, financial fraud, issuing a false certificate, etc., are proved.
