The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) held NDTV founder Prannoy Roy responsible for laundering Rs 642 crore and stated that the Ministery of Corporate Affairs helped the owners of the news channel in hiding financial information of the foreign shell companies in 2009.
The companies were floated and used for money laundering. The order states that NDTV and its promoters laundered Rs. 1,100 crore of black money during 2007-08 to 2009-10 out of which black money worth Rs 642.54 crore has been confirmed by the ITAT, reported DNA.
The ITAT order read,“ The ITAT confirmed the finding of the income Tax Department that Prannoy Roy made conscious attempt to hide financial details of foreign paper subsidiary companies of NDTV by not attaching audited profit loss account, balance sheet and annual report of these foreign shell companies along with annual report of NDTV," the report adds.
Advertisement
It also said that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs granted exemption to NDTV even before Roy filed an application seeking exemption for not making disclosure of financials of foreign companies misinformed shareholders and other regulatory authorities on April 30, 2009.
On June 5, the Central Bureau of investigation (CBI ) had carried out searches at the residence of NDTV founder Prannoy Roy in New Delhi and in Dehradun for allegedly causing loss to a private bank.
The agency registered a case against Roy, his wife Radhika and RRPR Holdings for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 48 crore to ICICI Bank, CBI sources said.
Advertisement
The agency carried out searches at four places in the national capital and Dehradun.
(With PTI inputs)
