HYDERABAD, July 6: In what could be the biggest scam involving Central Excise officials, sleuths have unearthed duty evasions to the tune of Rs 400 crore by a cigarette company in Hyderabad.

Charges have been levelled against senior officials of Central Excise department for dereliction of duty and corruption. It is believed that the accused officers received huge amounts for the ``favours done'' to the tobacco company, as a result of which the company managed to cheat the excise department to the tune of Rs 400 crore.

Golden Tobacco Company (GTC) situated at Ramantapur here is the centre of the scam. The evasions came to light when Central Excise officials in Punjab intercepted two trucks loaded with cigarettes manufactured by the company in December 1995. The trucks were carrying transit challans with the same number and the cigarette cartons too bore similar numbers. The case was investigated by the Chennai branch of anti-evasion squad and it was soon discovered that the company indulged in such malpractices with the connivance of Customs and Central Excise officials here. Subsequently, the DAE officials raided the premises of Golden Tobacco Company in February last year. During the raids, the DAE officials not only seized several incriminating documents but managed to lay their hands on a diary from the house of Modi, a director on the board of GTC. The diary opened up a Pandora's box as it contained names of the Hyderabad unit officials and the amounts paid to them for doing official ``favours''. Investigations further revealed that this had been going on for the last five years.

``Top-level officials took all measures to see that the names of the officials in the diary are not made public,'' alleged an official of the Hyderabad unit. The officer alleged that the assistant commissioner investigating the matter, N K Prasada, dropped the case by stating that the goods were just moving from one godown to another.

``None of the particulars printed on the cigarette cartons tallied with those available at the godown or at the factory. Yet the case was dropped,'' he revealed. Action is likely to be taken soon against Prasada and Anand Kumar Chabra, former commissioner of Customs and Central Excise at Hyderabad, who has been shifted to Chennai. Already 44 officials have been suspended for their suspected involvement in several malpractices during 1990-1995. Nineteen superintendents and 25 inspectors were suspended in April this year. However, suspension of two superintendents and two inspectors was revoked after it was found that they had worked for a very brief period during this time.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.