Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday claimed that show cause notices have been issued to Fastway Transmission Pvt limited (FTPL), a multi-system operator in cable business, by the director general of GST Intelligence for allegedly evading service tax amounting to Rs 2,100 crore.
He alleged that the previous SAD-BJP regime had provided monetary benefit of Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 crore to the company by illegally monopolizing cable business in Punjab.
Releasing the copies of the show cause notices to the media, Sidhu further claimed that the central agency acted against the private company offering cable services in Punjab after he highlighted the massive tax evasion last year.
However, FTPL, in a statement, accused the Punjab cabinet minister of "twisting facts and making false statements", mainly to "score his personnel vendetta".
At a press conference here, Sidhu said, "DG of GST Intelligence initiated a probe into the matter after I highlighted it in the media. It has served show cause notices to the owner of Fastway for evading service tax for period 2013 till 2018."
The show cause notices were also issued to the company's chartered accountant, CEO, other officials and local cable operators regarding "tax evasion", he claimed.
Sidhu said the owner of the company has been asked why the tax amount should not be recovered from them along with interest and why penalty should not be imposed upon them.
He claimed that the Punjab government was entitled to get a share of 62 per cent out of this tax amount.
"With these notices, my stand is vindicated (on cable mafia),” Sidhu claimed.