The Confident Group building in Bengaluru .
DH Photo
Bengaluru: Suspicion of money laundering and allegations of huge funding towards political activities in Kerala and Karnataka are what allegedly made the I-T Department keep a close watch on the reality firm Confident Group in the last couple of years.
Roy Chiriankandath Joseph, popularly known as CJ Roy, founder and chairman of the firm, who was found dead in his Langford Town office here on Friday, was on the income-tax department’s radar over suspected money laundering and allegedly acting as a “conduit” for some of the biggest names in political circles, according to an official source in the I-T Department.
The source told DH that the I-T raids unearthed a trail of “incriminating documents about money having been brought from outside the country as part of the company’s allegedly round-tripping operations”.
Roy is suspected to have shot himself dead during the income-tax operations at his Bengaluru office.
“He is suspected to have acted as a front for ‘off-book payments’ made to local politicians from outside the country and the purpose of the whole operation was to make it look like the payment receivers had made legitimate income,” the source said, adding that the claim that Roy’s realty business was debt-free was enough reason to raise a red flag.
“Records scrutinised show that his operations also involved selling assets to NRIs at less than market price in India and collecting the balance in the UAE where there is no income tax. Examination of his mobile records showed that he was pumping money to political parties for their party-related activities and their frontal organisations in India,” the source claimed.
Reports and allegations by Roy’s family that he had ended his life because he was facing harassment from income tax officials were wrong, the source said.
The source claimed that “Roy was under pressure because he was handling others’ funds”.
“Friday’s operation was the third such operation in two months. Earlier in December and January, Roy’s offices in Kochi and Bengaluru were raided. Prohibitory orders were issued, clearly stating that the assessee should not touch anything at the site under scrutiny because you [officials] need time and cannot value it immediately. Witnesses (usually an independent entity such as bank managers) were present during the operation,” the source claimed.
The I-T search on Friday was the last leg which involved examining some lockers and an almirah. “It was more of a verification process. It was just before the pre-scheduled interrogation that Roy went into his cabin and took the extreme step,” the source claimed.