IMA dealings may come under GST lens

The Central Board of Excise and Customs is likely to conduct an enquiry into the multi-crore IMA scam.

While a preliminary assessment by the GST Karnataka showed that I Monetary Advisory (MA) paid GST regularly, officials are focusing on other entities owned by the company’s founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who has now gone missing.

A senior official in GST Karnataka told DH that though Khan ran many companies, only IMA was covered under GST. “He had a separate registration to pay the service tax. In the past, he changed the name of the company as well as the GST commissionerate in which his company was registered,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

IMA was initially registered under the Bengaluru North GST commissionerate but it was moved to the Bengaluru South commissionerate in October. Apart from the main office located at Jayanagar 4th Block, Khan mentioned IMA Tower on Lady Curzon Road as an additional address during the registration.

“An audit of his dealings was conducted from the service tax era. He paid whatever differences were found during the audit. We will now have to conduct a separate audit to assess whether there were any irregularities,” the official explained. He continued: “While GST is based on sales, the IMA scam was the result of Khan’s financial mismanagement. In the course of time, we will conduct an enquiry.”