I-T search at Malabar Gold jewellery shops

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai:27.02.2019

The income tax investigation wing on Tuesday morning started searches at Malabar Gold jewellery shops, other business establishments owned by the group and residences of their promoters in Chennai, Coimbatore and various cities and towns in Kerala. Several officials from the wing were involved in the searches in 60 places, said an official.

A senior investigation wing official told TOI that the department had received information about tax evasion by the group.

The group has also not been showing all its transactions in the books for the past few years, the official said. The searches will continue for the next few days, he said.

“The group has several jewellery shops in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and abroad. We have definite information about the tax evasion. We will know about the total tax evasion and the actual turnover of the group after the searches are completed,” said the official.

The group is into construction business in the name of Malabar Developers. It owns Malabar Watches and an IT company too.

“The searches are on in the offices of these business establishments,” the official said.

The gold business headquarters is in Kozhikode and the corporate office of the group is in Dubai.

UNDER SCRUTINY: The Malabar Gold & Diamonds shop at T Nagar in Chennai which was raided by IT officials after the department received an information about the tax evasion by the group