Mr Baker sued over Tk80 crore VAT evasion
VAT intelligence officials found that the bakery was running business without keeping any record of sales
The Value Added Tax (VAT) intelligence directorate filed a case on Sunday against Mr Baker Cake & Pastry Shop over VAT evasion of Tk 80.16 crore by concealing sales figure of Tk265 crore.
On October 20, based on a specific VAT evasion complaint, a team of the directorate conducted a raid on a factory of Mr Baker on Mokdam Ali Sarker Road in Turag of the city. There are 29 outlets of the bakery in different locations across the city.
The raid was led by Deputy Director Nazmun Nahar Kaiser and Assistant Director Md Mohiuddin of the directorate.
Officials found that the bakery was running business without keeping any record of sales. Later, they investigated two of its bank accounts in Tongi area. This revealed an overall picture of its business.
On October 18, retired senior secretary Asif Zaman posted a status on his Facebook, alleging that Mr Baker's outlet on road no 4 in Uttara sector 3 in Uttara was not issuing VAT invoices.
He also requested Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem to take measures in this regard, saying customers were paying VAT but the government was deprived of it.
Later, the NBR chairman directed the VAT intelligence to investigate the allegations.