The Finance Ministry has reportedly exempted fabric softener products from taxes in order to placate a multinational company.
The ministry imposed a 15 per cent VAT on all goods from January, but secretly made an exemption for fabric softeners in the following month.
It is an act of serious corruption because the multinational company in question was informed in advance, to allow it to halt imports in January and resume it after the removal of the VAT in February.
Senior officials of the ministry are accused of making tax income losses to the state through this act and receiving gratifications from the company in return.
Without stopping there, they also exempted fabric softeners from the 10 pc CESS.
In February alone, the lost income to the state from this is estimated at Rs. 15 million that translates into an annual loss in the region of Rs. 200 million.
