CBI books Cadbury for corruption, fraud; several premises searched
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Cadbury India Private Limited (now known as Mondelez Foods Private Limited) for alleged corruption for obtaining licenses for its factory in Himachal Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday. After registering the FIR, CBI officials conducted searches at residential and officials' premises linked to the accused in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Here are more details.
FIR filed after CBI's preliminary inquiry
The CBI filed the FIR after a preliminary inquiry which showed that Cadbury paid bribes, misrepresented facts, and manipulated records to fraudulently avail area-based exemption benefits (central excise and income tax) in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, knowing fully well that it was not entitled to avail area-based tax exemption benefits," PTI reported. The alleged irregularities reportedly took place between 2009 and 2011.
FIR also names 12 individuals
The CBI alleged that some board members and key managers "collectively decided to manipulate records, engage intermediaries to route bribes and cover up all the evidence that had surfaced during the internal investigation." The FIR also names 12 individuals including two then Central Excise officials, the then Cadbury Vice-President (Finance and Compliance) Vikram Arora, and directors Rajesh Garg and Jailboy Phillips.
Cadbury expanded existing unit, instead of building another: CBI
In 2007, Cadbury had proposed to establish a unit in Baddi to avail exemption from excise duty and income tax for additional 10 years. Instead of building a separate unit, Cadbury allegedly expanded its existing unit—built in 2005 to manufacture Bournvita—to avail the exemption. Cadbury allegedly obtained the license of the second unit in July 2010, four months after the cut-off to avail exemption.
'Cadbury obtained tax exemption of Rs. 241 crore'
The CBI said, "The second unit of CIL (Cadbury India Limited) did not fulfill the prescribed conditions for availing tax exemption but by bribing then Central Excise officials Nirmal Singh and Jaspreet Kaur through middlemen, obtained tax exemption to the tune of Rs. 241 crore."
