Andhra Pradesh ACB catches senior tax official red-handed accepting bribe of Rs 23.20 lakh

Amaravati: An additional commissioner of commercial taxes was caught red-handed by the Andhra Pradesh anti-corruption bureau while receiving Rs 23.20 lakh as bribe from representatives of a multinational company, officials said. It is the single largest amount confiscated in a trap case in the state so far, said ACB director-general Ram Prawesh Thakur. [caption id=“attachment_3069218” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. CNN News 18[/caption] “We had received information that Additional Commissioner (State Tax) in the Enforcement Wing of the Commercial Taxes Department U Yedukondalu was demanding and receiving a huge amount as bribe from representatives of a multinational company called ITD Cementation India,” Thakur said. “Accordingly, surveillance was kept and a check was conducted evening in the officials chamber. An amount of Rs 23.20 lakh was seized from Yedukondalu which he had accepted from Gopal Sharma, a legal consultant, and Karamcheti Satyanarayana, deputy accounts manager of the MNC,” Thakur said. He informed that the bribe was to process and sanction input tax credit of Rs 4.67 crore, for the period from October 2010 to May 2014, for works taken up by the MNC at Gangavaram Port, Visakhapatnam Port Trust and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The MNC, ITD Cementation, with its India head office in Mumbai, takes up major projects in different parts of the country, the ACB DG added. A case has been registered and further investigations were underway, Thakur said.