Kathmandu, December 20: The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) has filed a case against Varun Beverages Nepal Pvt Ltd in the Kathmandu District Court on the charge of evading tax of around Rs 950 million.
“Varun evaded the tax by using fake VAT (value-added tax) invoices. So, we filed the case demanding the total cash penalties of Rs 1.94 billion from the promoters of the multinational company,” media reports quoted the department chief Dirgharaj Mainali as saying.
Names of the former and current promoters are Amit Gupta, Ravikanta Jaypuria, Rohit Kohali, Pravin Kumar Agrawal, Binod Kumar Singh, and Ashok Kumar.
The department also urged the court to consider imprisoning them for up to three years, as per a provision in the Revenue Leakage (Investigation and Control) Act-1995.
From the fiscal year 2013/14 to 2018/19, the company is accused of swindling Rs 250 million in VAT and Rs 400 million in income tax.
According to Mainali, the use of fake VAT bills for tax evasion is a financial crime more serious than the transaction of counterfeit notes.
