CBI books chocolate giants Cadbury India for alleged tax fraud

The CBI has booked Cadbury India Private Limited (now known as Mondelez Foods Private Limited) for alleged corruption and misrepresentation of facts to fraudulently avail area-based tax benefits in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.After registering the FIR, the CBI carried out searches at 10 locations in Solan, Baddi, Mohali, Pinjore and Mumbai. The FIR is an outcome of a preliminary enquiry registered by the agency, which showed that the company allegedly “paid bribes, misrepresented facts and manipulated records to fraudulently avail area-based exemption benefits in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh”.

“For availing the same, some members of the executive board of the company, along with key managers, collectively decided to manipulate records, engage intermediaries to route bribes and cover up all the evidence that had surfaced during the internal investigation,” the CBI has alleged. Besides the company, the agency has booked a total of 12 individuals, including two the then Central Excise officials, the then Cadbury India Limited (CIL) vice-president (finance and compliance) Vikram Arora and its directors Rajesh Garg and Jailboy Phillips.CIL had set up a manufacturing unit at Sandholi village for manufacturing malt-based food (Bournvita). The unit started commercial production from May 19, 2005, the CBI has alleged in its FIR. The agency has alleged that senior executives of the company conspired with private individuals and made payments to get necessary approvals for setting up the second unit as a separate company to avail tax benefits for which it was not eligible. The CBI has found details of various payments made to camouflage alleged bribes and commissions to get the work done, the FIR alleges. The agency has alleged that the DGCEI had also probed the matter and slapped a fine of Rs 241 crore on the company.