On 28th November, the apparel exporters of Delhi-NCR, and especially of Noida, were shocked as the news broke out that Income Tax Department has conducted raids on the official and residential premises of Meenu Creations Private Limited, a well known and respected name of Noida’s apparel export fraternity, and also on McConn Infra Private Limited, whose owners happen to be family friends of Anil Peshawari, Director of Meenu Creations. An official claimed Rs. 40 lakh was seized from the residence of Anil Peshawari, a partner in Meenu Creations, which also listed Noida Authority’s Engineer-in-Chief Yadav Singh’s (the main accused in the entire scandal) wife Kusumlata as a Director. The officials also claimed to have seized stock worth Rs. 12.5 crore from Meenu Creations office. The records of Meenu Creations are being assessed.
Media reports, based on the Director General (Investigation) Krishna Saini’s official statements, also claimed that “The major allegation on these companies is that they got 30 to 40 plots allotted in Noida by forming bogus share holdings in Kolkata. Later, their shares were off-loaded. In this way, those who purchased the shares got plots. All these transactions were made in the last three to four years. It was estimated that the company (Meenu Creations) stored excess stock, adding that some of the benami properties were also being investigated; Meenu Creations were involved in managing Singh’s unaccounted money.”
With the story hitting the headlines, the list of other ‘defaulters’ kept increasing… Directors of McConn include Rajendra Manocha, Namrata Manocha, Anil Peshawari and Kusumlata, who left the company in 2012-2013. The probe team has reportedly discovered that Meenu Creations Private Ltd. and McConn Infra Private Limited were involved not only in exporting garments but also in buying land at throwaway prices and selling them at prevailing market rates. Yadav Singh allegedly misused his power in these transactions. In addition, questions are being raised as to the true reason-why Anil Peshawari is Director or Additional Director in 21 companies covering 11 different segments all formed between June and August 2012.
Anil clears his stand in an exclusive interview with AO…
“I wanted to deny the allegations immediately, but decided to wait for the right platform as the mainline media was just interested in the allegations… and not the truth,” says Anil with a pinch of salt. Coming across as a man in control, Anil admits that the incident has been a shocker and he is still trying to understand why he has been targeted. “I have tried to find an answer as to why me, but there is no logic and all I can say is that the whole bases of the allegations are false… My company is a proprietorship firm in the name of my wife since its inception in 2001, and does not have any Directors, let alone Kusumlata, who incidentally I don’t even know,” says Anil emphatically.
Any scandal worth its name has to have a garment exporter’s name associated with it… after all the only two prominent businesses in the region are garment manufacturing and real estate…, and the nexus is always under the scanner…
He furnishes documents to prove his point, and also declares that Meenu Creations Pvt. Limited with his wife and him as Directors and who do not indulge in any activities while the third company associated with exports, Bhoomika Garments Pvt. Ltd., also has the same two as Directors. Together Meenu Creations and Bhoomika Garments will be clocking a turnover of around Rs. 175 crore at the end of the running financial year. Working with design oriented and value garment companies like Zara, the business model at Meenu Creations is laid on the foundation of Product Development. Anil however does admit that certain amount of stocks were found in the factory and is basically a result of the accumulating fabric which went unnoticed, henceforth tax of the same has been paid for. He denies that huge sum of cash was found at his residence, claiming that the same was recovered from the office which was accounted for operational purposes to run the factory on a day-to-day basis.
Anil strongly denied that any of his transactions were illegal and openly admitted that he was involved in a real estate business but not in any partnership and all paper to support buying and selling of various properties were in line with statutory requirements. “The garment export business is a very difficult business with shrinking margins and most exporters in the Delhi-NCR region are indulging in other activities to support their revenue and export business, what is wrong in that?” he questions. He adds that he had registered a number of companies in anticipation of alternate business ideas, but they in no way take way his credibility.
Encouraging the export community, suppliers and buyers alike have come out in support of Anil. “My buyers have worked with me for a long time and my performance is enough proof that I am a complete professional, and they are confident that the company will come out of this unscratched,” says Anil confidently.
