The Income Tax department has conducted raids at the Delhi, Gurugram (Haryana), and Bengaluru offices of Chinese telecom company Huawei as part of a tax evasion investigation. The raids were launched on Tuesday.
Officials checked financial documents, account books, and company records as part of a tax evasion investigation against the company, its Indian businesses, and overseas transactions. Some records have been seized too, news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.
Meanwhile, company officials have said that its operations in the country are “firmly compliant” with the law.
“We have been informed of the visit of Income Tax team to our office and also of their meeting with some personnel. Huawei is confident our operations in India are firmly compliant with all laws and regulations. We will approach related Government departments for more information and fully cooperate as per the rules and regulations and follow the right procedure,” the company said in a statement.
In the meantime, the government has kept Huawei out of trials for 5G services.
Telecom operators are currently allowed to source telecom gear from Huawei and ZTE under their old agreements for maintaining their networks. However, they would need the approval of the government before getting into any new business agreement as per National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector.
