The Income Tax Department on Thursday claimed to have busted a racket of extracting fraudulent tax refunds by employees of bellwether companies like IBM, Vodafone and Infosys in alleged connivance with a Chartered Accountant (CA) in Bengaluru, the IT capital of the country.

The investigation wing of the department conducted searches on the premises of an unidentified CA yesterday and claimed to have &quot;seized&quot; bogus claim documents of his various clients along with WhatsApp chat messages.

The CA, a department statement said, was &quot;found to be instrumental in filing false income tax returns and making fraudulent refund claims&quot; by citing inflated or false claims of loss from house property.

The department claimed that the CA filed &quot;nearly 1,000 returns with the loss from house property, aggregating to loss claim of Rs 18 crore&quot; till now.

Employees of over 50 prominent and medium-sized companies in Bengaluru are under the scanner of the department who were the clients of this CA, whom the department did not identify citing ongoing investigation.

&quot;It is noted that employees from some of the reputed companies such as IBM, Vodafone, Saplabs, Biocon, Infosys, ICICI Bank, CISCO, Thomson Reuters India Limited among others have also resorted to such fraudulent claim of refunds by filing revised returns of their individual income,&quot; the department said.

It added that many of them have been questioned by the taxman in their respective offices since yesterday.

&quot;This is a case that is building up. Such a large-scale action in cases of employees seeking false refunds has been undertaken by the tax department for the first time,&quot; a senior official said.

The department said many of the employees it questioned, after the fraud was unearthed, said they do not have any &quot;real loss&quot; under the &#39;income from house property&#39; category and the employees shifted blame on the CA saying it was the professional who said &quot;he can get refunds for them by making some claims&quot;.

&quot;They also deposed that, out of the refund received, the auditor (CA) had charged 10 per cent as incidental charges.

Some WhatsApp messages with auditor were also shown by them, as supporting evidence,&quot; it said.

The CA, instead, told the taxman that he filed those bogus claim refunds at the &quot;insistence of his clients&quot;.

&quot;Further enquiries like examination of his (CA&#39;s) other clients and cross-examination of them with the CA are being conducted.

&quot;Necessary action as per law will be taken against the CA as well as the persons who have claimed wrong refunds under the provisions of Income Tax Act,&quot; it said.

The department cautioned taxpayers from indulging or getting influenced by such frauds as it said that making a claim of refunds by the taxpayer from the department is based on &quot;trust&quot; between the two sides and this should not be breached.

&quot;The Income Tax department now does automate and faceless return processing and the issue of refunds. This is based on the principle of trusting the taxpayer.

&quot;Making a bogus and fraudulent claim is not only a betrayal of this trust, it will expose the taxpayer to heavy interest, penalty and possible prosecution ending in a jail term,&quot; it said.

All taxpayers, the statement said, are requested to be highly alert to fraudulent schemes like the present one.

&quot;Such fraudulent schemes will invariably be caught out and will result in penal action on the taxpayer.

&quot;If any person has made a false claim in the I-T returns resulting in lower tax payment/unjustified refund, they are advised to take immediate steps to file revised returns disclosing the correct income and paying due tax,&quot; it said.

Employees of over 50 prominent and medium-sized companies in Bengaluru are under the scanner

The Income Tax Department on Thursday claimed to have busted a racket of extracting fraudulent tax refunds by employees of bellwether companies like IBM, Vodafone and Infosys in alleged connivance with a Chartered Accountant (CA) in Bengaluru, the IT capital of the country. The investigation wing of the department conducted searches on the premises of an unidentified CA yesterday and claimed to have "seized" bogus claim documents of his various clients along with WhatsApp chat messages. The CA, a department statement said, was "found to be instrumental in filing false income tax returns and making fraudulent refund claims" by citing inflated or false claims of loss from house property. The department claimed that the CA filed "nearly 1,000 returns with the loss from house property, aggregating to loss claim of Rs 18 crore" till now. Employees of over 50 prominent and medium-sized companies in Bengaluru are under the scanner of the department who were the clients of this CA, whom the department did not identify citing ongoing investigation. "It is noted that employees from some of the reputed companies such as IBM, Vodafone, Saplabs, Biocon, Infosys, ICICI Bank, CISCO, Thomson Reuters India Limited among others have also resorted to such fraudulent claim of refunds by filing revised returns of their individual income," the department said. It added that many of them have been questioned by the taxman in their respective offices since yesterday. "This is a case that is building up. Such a large-scale action in cases of employees seeking false refunds has been undertaken by the tax department for the first time," a senior official said. The department said many of the employees it questioned, after the fraud was unearthed, said they do not have any "real loss" under the 'income from house property' category and the employees shifted blame on the CA saying it was the professional who said "he can get refunds for them by making some claims". "They also deposed that, out of the refund received, the auditor (CA) had charged 10 per cent as incidental charges. Some WhatsApp messages with auditor were also shown by them, as supporting evidence," it said. The CA, instead, told the taxman that he filed those bogus claim refunds at the "insistence of his clients". "Further enquiries like examination of his (CA's) other clients and cross-examination of them with the CA are being conducted. "Necessary action as per law will be taken against the CA as well as the persons who have claimed wrong refunds under the provisions of Income Tax Act," it said. The department cautioned taxpayers from indulging or getting influenced by such frauds as it said that making a claim of refunds by the taxpayer from the department is based on "trust" between the two sides and this should not be breached. "The Income Tax department now does automate and faceless return processing and the issue of refunds. This is based on the principle of trusting the taxpayer. "Making a bogus and fraudulent claim is not only a betrayal of this trust, it will expose the taxpayer to heavy interest, penalty and possible prosecution ending in a jail term," it said. All taxpayers, the statement said, are requested to be highly alert to fraudulent schemes like the present one. "Such fraudulent schemes will invariably be caught out and will result in penal action on the taxpayer. "If any person has made a false claim in the I-T returns resulting in lower tax payment/unjustified refund, they are advised to take immediate steps to file revised returns disclosing the correct income and paying due tax," it said.

I-T busts refund fraud, claims nexus between employees of top companies, CA

International Business Machines said on Monday it will appeal an Indiana judge&#39;s ruling that calls for the technology company to pay more than $78 million in damages to the state for failing to modernize the government&#39;s welfare system.

Marion Superior Court Judge Heather Welch ruled on Friday that Indiana was entitled to $128 million in damages for the breach of contract by the company. Welch also said&nbsp;IBM&nbsp;was entitled to nearly $50 million in damages for equipment fees and related costs, according to court documents.

IBM&nbsp;and Indiana in 2006 signed a contract under which the company would modernise the state&#39;s welfare system. But the state terminated the contract three years later, claiming&nbsp;IBM&nbsp;fell short of the stated goals.

&quot;IBM&nbsp;will appeal this decision which is contradicted by the facts and the law,&quot;&nbsp;IBM&nbsp;spokesman Clint Roswell said in a statement on Monday.

&quot;IBM&nbsp;worked diligently and invested significant resources ... to help turn around a welfare system described at the time by Indiana&#39;s governor as one of the worst in the nation,&quot; he added.

State officials said on Monday that they were pleased with the decision.

&quot;This is a very positive step forward to vindicate the actions the state took in 2009 to terminate the contract with&nbsp;IBM,&quot; Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said in a statement. &quot;We look forward to the resolution of the lawsuit.&quot;

One of the state&#39;s attorneys, Peter Rusthoven, said&nbsp;IBM&nbsp;&quot;refused all along to take responsibility for its poor performance.&quot;

IBM&nbsp;and Indiana sued each other in 2010, alleging breach of contract.

The two cases were consolidated and a judge in 2012 found no breach of contract by&nbsp;IBM, which was awarded $49.5 million in past-due fees after a six-week bench trial in Marion Superior Court.

Both parties appealed and the state Supreme Court found last year that&nbsp;IBM&nbsp;breached the contract and sent the case to Welch&#39;s court to determine damages.

&nbsp;

Marion Superior Court Judge Heather Welch ruled on Friday that Indiana was entitled to $128 million in damages for the breach of contract by the company

International Business Machines said on Monday it will appeal an Indiana judge's ruling that calls for the technology company to pay more than $78 million in damages to the state for failing to modernize the government's welfare system. Marion Superior Court Judge Heather Welch ruled on Friday that Indiana was entitled to $128 million in damages for the breach of contract by the company. Welch also said IBM was entitled to nearly $50 million in damages for equipment fees and related costs, according to court documents. IBM and Indiana in 2006 signed a contract under which the company would modernise the state's welfare system. But the state terminated the contract three years later, claiming IBM fell short of the stated goals. "IBM will appeal this decision which is contradicted by the facts and the law," IBM spokesman Clint Roswell said in a statement on Monday. "IBM worked diligently and invested significant resources ... to help turn around a welfare system described at the time by Indiana's governor as one of the worst in the nation," he added. State officials said on Monday that they were pleased with the decision. "This is a very positive step forward to vindicate the actions the state took in 2009 to terminate the contract with IBM," Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said in a statement. "We look forward to the resolution of the lawsuit." One of the state's attorneys, Peter Rusthoven, said IBM "refused all along to take responsibility for its poor performance." IBM and Indiana sued each other in 2010, alleging breach of contract. The two cases were consolidated and a judge in 2012 found no breach of contract by IBM, which was awarded $49.5 million in past-due fees after a six-week bench trial in Marion Superior Court. Both parties appealed and the state Supreme Court found last year that IBM breached the contract and sent the case to Welch's court to determine damages.

IBM to appeal judge's order to pay $78 million to Indiana

A former software engineer for IBM in China pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing proprietary source code from the company, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.

Jiaqiang Xu, 31, pleaded guilty to economic espionage and theft of a trade secret before US&nbsp;District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 13.

Leanne Marek, Xu&#39;s attorney, declined to comment.

Xu was arrested in December 2015 after meeting with an undercover officer at a White Plains hotel, where authorities said he was recorded saying he used the code to make software to sell to customers.

He was originally charged with theft of a trade secret. The economic espionage charges were added in a superseding indictment filed last June.

International Business Machines was not identified by name in the complaint. But a LinkedIn profile for Xu said he was employed as a system software developer at IBM during the period in question.

Prosecutors said the proprietary computer code Xu stole was related to a so-called clustered file system, which facilitates faster computer performance.

Xu, who began working at IBM in China in 2010, had full access to the source code before voluntarily resigning in May 2014, prosecutors said.

According to the criminal complaint filed in 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2014 received a report that someone in China was claiming to have access to the code and using it for business ventures, prompting the investigation that led to the arrest.

The case is USA v. Xu, US&nbsp;District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-cr-00010.

(Reuters)

He used the code to make software to sell to customers

A former software engineer for IBM in China pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing proprietary source code from the company, federal prosecutors announced on Friday. Jiaqiang Xu, 31, pleaded guilty to economic espionage and theft of a trade secret before US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 13. Leanne Marek, Xu's attorney, declined to comment. Xu was arrested in December 2015 after meeting with an undercover officer at a White Plains hotel, where authorities said he was recorded saying he used the code to make software to sell to customers. He was originally charged with theft of a trade secret. The economic espionage charges were added in a superseding indictment filed last June. International Business Machines was not identified by name in the complaint. But a LinkedIn profile for Xu said he was employed as a system software developer at IBM during the period in question. Prosecutors said the proprietary computer code Xu stole was related to a so-called clustered file system, which facilitates faster computer performance. Xu, who began working at IBM in China in 2010, had full access to the source code before voluntarily resigning in May 2014, prosecutors said. According to the criminal complaint filed in 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2014 received a report that someone in China was claiming to have access to the code and using it for business ventures, prompting the investigation that led to the arrest. The case is USA v. Xu, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-cr-00010. (Reuters)

Ex-IBM employee from China pleads guilty to code theft charges

Wall Street was set to open higher today, setting the stage for the Dow and S&amp;P 500 to hit fresh highs, as US corporate reports continue to top expectations. 
 
Equity futures, which dipped after the close on Friday, shrugged off the impact of an attempted coup in Turkey. 
 
With the S&amp;P and Dow hitting record intraday highs almost everyday last week, investors will assess the quality of second-quarter earnings to justify stock valuations. 
 
&quot;The markets are going to be driven by earnings reports while geopolitical problems take a backseat for now,&quot; said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York. 
 
Bank of America profits show corporations making money&nbsp; 
 
Bank of America, the number 2 US bank by assets, and fellow S&amp;P component Hasbro posted better than expected profit for the second quarter, mirroring the results of the few companies, including big banks, that reported last week. 
 
&quot;The handful of results that we have got have been okay and earnings have mostly beaten expectations. It shows that corporations are still making money, and that&#39;s what counts,&quot; Cardillo said. 
 
Dow e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.17 per cent at 8:27 a.m. ET (1227 GMT), with 28,500 contracts changing hands. 
 
S&amp;P 500 e-minis were up 5.75 points, or 0.27 per cent, with 186,056 contracts traded. 
 
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.23 per cent, on volume of 25,766 contracts. 
 
Bank of America shares rose nearly 1 per cent to $13.79 premarket. Hasbro was off 0.6 pe rcent. 
 
Investors favouring riskier assets? &nbsp; 
 
British chip designer ARM&#39;s US-listed shares surged 43.5 per cent to $67.64 premarket, after Japan&#39;s SoftBank agreed to buy the company for $32.2 billion. 
 
A host of US chip stock such as Micron, Nvidia and Broadcom were up between 1.0 and 1.5 per cent. 
 
Earnings of S&amp;P 500 companies are now estimated to have declined 4.7 per cent in the second quarter, less than the 5 per cent drop estimated earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data. 
 
That adds to hopes that earnings contraction bottomed out in the previous quarter, a view that could be reinforced when IBM, Yahoo and Netflix report results after markets close. 
 
Gold prices have fallen, while the yen was lower, indicating investors&#39; favour for more riskier assets has been growing after weeks of uncertainty. Low Treasury yields in recent weeks have also helped steer investors to equities. 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Equity futures, which dipped after the close on Friday, shrugged off the impact of an attempted coup in Turkey

Wall Street was set to open higher today, setting the stage for the Dow and S&P 500 to hit fresh highs, as US corporate reports continue to top expectations. Equity futures, which dipped after the close on Friday, shrugged off the impact of an attempted coup in Turkey. With the S&P and Dow hitting record intraday highs almost everyday last week, investors will assess the quality of second-quarter earnings to justify stock valuations. "The markets are going to be driven by earnings reports while geopolitical problems take a backseat for now," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York. Bank of America profits show corporations making money Bank of America, the number 2 US bank by assets, and fellow S&P component Hasbro posted better than expected profit for the second quarter, mirroring the results of the few companies, including big banks, that reported last week. "The handful of results that we have got have been okay and earnings have mostly beaten expectations. It shows that corporations are still making money, and that's what counts," Cardillo said. Dow e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.17 per cent at 8:27 a.m. ET (1227 GMT), with 28,500 contracts changing hands. S&P 500 e-minis were up 5.75 points, or 0.27 per cent, with 186,056 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.23 per cent, on volume of 25,766 contracts. Bank of America shares rose nearly 1 per cent to $13.79 premarket. Hasbro was off 0.6 pe rcent. Investors favouring riskier assets? British chip designer ARM's US-listed shares surged 43.5 per cent to $67.64 premarket, after Japan's SoftBank agreed to buy the company for $32.2 billion. A host of US chip stock such as Micron, Nvidia and Broadcom were up between 1.0 and 1.5 per cent. Earnings of S&P 500 companies are now estimated to have declined 4.7 per cent in the second quarter, less than the 5 per cent drop estimated earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data. That adds to hopes that earnings contraction bottomed out in the previous quarter, a view that could be reinforced when IBM, Yahoo and Netflix report results after markets close. Gold prices have fallen, while the yen was lower, indicating investors' favour for more riskier assets has been growing after weeks of uncertainty. Low Treasury yields in recent weeks have also helped steer investors to equities. (Reuters)

Wall Street gears up for upbeat earnings

IBM plans to open a blockchain innovation centre in Singapore in collaboration with the government, as the city-state strives to become Asia&#39;s main financial technology hub. 
 
The tech giant will be working with the main economic planning agency, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to accelerate blockchain adoption for finance and trade. 
 
One project, together with PSA International, one of the world&#39;s largest container transshipment ports owned by state investor Temasek Holdings, aims to connect fintech with global trade and logistics. 
 
The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public &quot;ledgers&quot; of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated systems such as clearing and settlement with one simple database. 
 
Singapore is rushing to reinvent itself as Asia&#39;s fintech hub to fend off a regulatory threat to its wealth management industry and revive a sluggish economy. 
 
Observers say it is ahead of long-time rival Hong Kong, but measures to curb the number of foreign workers and previous regulations creating a risk averse culture at odds with the trial-and-error approach of fintech start-ups, remain key obstacles in developing the sector. 
 
(Reuters)

Singapore is rushing to reinvent itself as Asia's fintech hub to revive a sluggish economy

IBM plans to open a blockchain innovation centre in Singapore in collaboration with the government, as the city-state strives to become Asia's main financial technology hub. The tech giant will be working with the main economic planning agency, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to accelerate blockchain adoption for finance and trade. One project, together with PSA International, one of the world's largest container transshipment ports owned by state investor Temasek Holdings, aims to connect fintech with global trade and logistics. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated systems such as clearing and settlement with one simple database. Singapore is rushing to reinvent itself as Asia's fintech hub to fend off a regulatory threat to its wealth management industry and revive a sluggish economy. Observers say it is ahead of long-time rival Hong Kong, but measures to curb the number of foreign workers and previous regulations creating a risk averse culture at odds with the trial-and-error approach of fintech start-ups, remain key obstacles in developing the sector. (Reuters)

IBM to open first blockchain innovation centre in Singapore

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I-T busts refund fraud, claims nexus between employees of top companies, CA

IBM to appeal judge's order to pay $78 million to Indiana

Ex-IBM employee from China pleads guilty to code theft charges

Wall Street gears up for upbeat earnings

IBM to open first blockchain innovation centre in Singapore