CBI arrests two I-T officers in Thrissur on bribe charges

CBI today arrested two Income Tax department officers in Thrissur for allegedly taking bribe of Rs ten lakh from a person in lieu of settling his tax penalty case.
The arrested I-T officers, in the rank of Assistant Commissioners, have been identified as P Jose and Vincent Joseph and were posted in Thrissur.
"The complainant in this case had alleged that he was regularly paying income tax as per his business transactions. The Income tax authorities had issued a notice to his firm during 2012 stating therein that they wanted to scrutinise the accounts of his firm for the financial year 2010-11. Accordingly, the book of accounts were produced through his auditor of a Thrissur based private firm of Chartered Accountants," a CBI spokesperson said here.

The CBI said the auditor later informed the complainant that his firm's account records were scrutinised by Jose and he allegedly sent a message through the auditor that he has to pay a Rs 50 lakh penalty for the contravention of the I-T Act and Rules and he allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh as bribe to settle the matter.
The complainant along with his auditor visited the office of Jose and the officer allegedly reiterated his demand of Rs 10 lakh for reducing the I-T penalty from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one lakh.
The agency, on being approached by the complainant, later laid a trap and Jose, along with his colleague Joseph, were caught red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the complainant, an agency spokesperson said here.