Income Tax department conducts raids

against Chettinad Group of companies

By Bharani Vaitheesvaran, ET Bureau | 10 Jun, 2015, 12.14PM IST
12 comments |Post a Comment
READ MORE ON tamil nadu | M A M Ramaswamy | Income Tax | Chettinad Group |
Chettinad | Andhra Pradesh

MAM Ramaswamy, Chairman Emeritus of the

Chettinad Group of Companies M.A.M. Ramaswamy addressing the media along with
industrialist A.C. Muthiah at the Chettinad Palace in Chennai on Tuesday.

Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd.

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CHENNAI: Officials of the State Income Taxes department are conducting raids at offices of the
Chettinad Group of Companies.
This occurs hours after MAM Ramaswamy, waging a bitter power war with foster son MAMR
Muthaiah running the Rs 4000-crore conglomerate, made a claim that there was a huge sales tax
claim hanging over the ChettinadBSE 0.13 % Group.
On Tuesday, Ramaswamy had charged son MAMR Muthaiah of being ungrateful and not leading
the group in the way of "charity and philanthropy." In a slew of charges against his adopted son,
Ramaswamy alleged "Muthaiah had gone to meet a top official in the taxes department after a
sales tax claim, but it appears he has been told to pay up Rs 252 crore."
Sources in the Muthaiah faction confirmed to ET that almost all offices of Chettinad Cement and
group companies are being covered by the IT officials, though they emphasised that such raids
do not necessarily mean any laxity on Chettinad's part in paying taxes.
An Income Department source said the number of offices searched so far has crossed 40. The
investigation had started at about 8 am in the morning
Income Tax raids at Chettinad Group
Income Tax personnel seen at the office premises of Chettinad Group at Anna Salai
in Chennai on Wednesday. Photo: V. Ganesan \
The Hindu
Industrialist M.A.M. Ramaswamy addressing the media along with industrialist
A.C. Muthiah at The Chettinad Palace in Chennai on Tuesday. Photo: M.
Moorthy
TOPICS

Tax evasion suspected; family feud not connected to search,

says source.
Even before the dust could settle on the succession issue involving the Chettinad family, the
Income Tax department came knocking on their doors.
On Wednesday, Income Tax officials conducted raids on 33 places, including offices and houses
belonging to industrialist MAM Ramaswamy and Chettinad Groups Managing Director, MAMR
Muthiah (also known as Ayyappan), suspecting tax evasion.

400 officials deputed

The taxmen searched offices also in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and other parts of Tamil
Nadu. The search began at 8 a.m. and 400 officials were deputed for the purpose.
We got information that they have been evading tax for the last six years. We have been
watching this for last six months now, said an Income Tax Official, who wished anonymity.
The raids have got nothing to do with the family feud, he added.
Both Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. Muthiah were not available for comments.
On Tuesday when Mr. Ramaswamy disowned his foster son Mr. Muthiah, he made a comment
that the latter has not paid sales tax. He has not paid sales tax. This is public money. The amount
is more than Rs. 252 crore, Mr. Ramaswamy had said.
The Chettinad Group has various businesses interests including in cement, education,
construction, power, trading, transportation, steel fabrication and coal terminal. The group has a
medical university, Chettinad College of Engineering and Technology and a school.
The group also has a stud farm at Ponneri, which has more than 250 broodmares, 125 foals and
an equal number of yearlings.
According to the groups website, its turnover is Rs. 4,000 crore.
Keywords: Chettinad Group, income tax evasion, IT searches, MAM Ramasamy

IT searches continue at Chettinad group

offices
A 450-member team of Income Tax (IT) department officials on Thursday continued their
search operations at various offices of the Chettinad group of companies in Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, said a senior official.
He said the searches, which entered its second day on Thursday, are likely to continue on Friday
as well. The official said details of the search operation will be shared with the media later.
"Search operations at the offices of the Chettinad group of companies continued for second day.
It is likely to continue tomorrow (Friday) also," the official told IANS.
Searches were conducted at 45 locations in the three states.

"The reason for the raid is suspected evasion of taxes," the official said.
The Chettinad group has interests in cement, logistics, education, health care, coal terminal and
others.
Officials said the search is not connected with the on-going family feud between M.A.M.
Ramaswamy, the former chairman of the Chettinad group, and his adopted son M.A.M.R.
Muthiah, who now heads the Chettinad group of companies.
Last year, Ramaswamy was ousted as the director of Chettinad Cement and consequently lost his
chairman post.
The IT searches began a day after Ramaswamy alleged that the company 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 on Tuesday to disown
his adopted son M.A.M.R. Muthiah, the managing director of the group.
Asked for clarifications on the sales tax issue, 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.
On Tuesday, Ramaswamy disowned his adopted son declared that Muthiah should not perform
any ceremonies or obsequies on his demise.
A source close to Ramaswamy told IANS that IT officials on Wednesday had visited
Ramaswamy's residence and sought some documents.
"He (Ramaswamy) told his staff to cooperate and give the needed documents," the source told
IANS.
On Thursday also IT officials were at the Chettinad House, where Ramaswamy resides.