Sun Group and I are not tax dodgers, says Kalanithi Maran

Maran challenged reports that he and another company official have been summoned as accused by a Delhi court in two tax evasion cases for their alleged failure to deposit over Rs 147 crore TDS

Embattled media tycoon Kalanithi Maran broke his silence and denied allegations of dodging taxes. In a statement, Maran challenged reports that another company official and he had been summoned as accused by a Delhi court in two tax evasion cases for their alleged failure to deposit Rs 147 crore of TDS (tax deducted at source) with the income tax  (I-T) department.

According to Maran, Sun Group companies and he, as an individual, pay  Rs 600 crore in taxes annually to the national exchequer.

“We are not tax dodgers,” said Maran, adding his group was awarded by the authorities on many occasions.

“SpiceJet was the only company in the Sun Group that had difficulty in making timely payments during 2014, which was inevitable given the very challenging times faced by the entire airline industry. Despite those hurdles, we had cleared all dues around February, well before the new promoter took over. It is, therefore, to be noted that there was no evasion of tax as reported but only a delay in making those remittances,” he said.

He added this had been ‘unequivocally’ clarified by the current management team at SpiceJet, stating all tax dues have been cleared that there are no payments pending.

“Notwithstanding the above, it is also very important to bear in mind that I was a non-executive chairman of the board and was never designated as the principal officer of the company. I was never in-charge of day-to-day affairs at SpiceJet. Therefore, I had no knowledge of the routine operations of the airline nor was I ever responsible for periodic tax compliances,” Maran said.

“It is unfortunate that after almost a period of six months after payment of TDS dues by SpiceJet, a case has been suddenly filed naming me as an accused, despite knowing fully well that I was not in-charge of the day-to-day operations of SpiceJet,” he added. “Given that the Sun Group companies and I have been the topic of several malicious and misleading stories fed to the print media by certain people, it appears that this action, too, may have been motivated by ulterior motives to tarnish the image and reputation of the Sun Group and me.”