Chattogram Customs and VAT Commissionerate formed four committees today to conduct audits into business activities and transactions of 18 concerns of S Alam Group to see if they have properly paid the VAT.

Joint commissioners Tafsir Uddin Bhuiyan and Kamrul Hasan were appointed as heads of the four teams, states a letter signed by Assistant VAT Commissioner Omar Kawsar.

"A comprehensive report, facilitated by a team of 20 customs officials, is to be submitted within the next 30 days," said the letter. 

The teams have been instructed to examine all categories of financial transactions and purchase and sale documentations of the past five years, starting in 2019.

The 18 companies are S Alam Steel Ltd, Chemon Ispat Ltd, New S Alam Shoes, S Alam Refined Sugar, SS Power Ltd, Autobots Automobile Ltd, Platinum Spinning Mills Ltd, S Alam Power Plant Ltd, S Alam Properties Ltd, S Alam Cold Re-Rolling Mills, Signing Assets Ltd, Masud Printing & Packaging Ltd, Infinity CR Strip Industries Ltd, S Alam Bag Manufacturing Mills Ltd, and Ocean Resorts Ltd.

"The financial dealings of these companies, along with their purchase and sale documentations, will be scrutinised by the audit teams," Tafsir Uddin Bhuiyan, joint commissioner and head of two audit teams, told The Daily Star. 

"The business operations of the 18 companies will undergo an audit as a continuation of the prior examination," he said.

He added that audit activities are part of regular operations, although recent issues may be considered.

Previously, a separate audit report from the same department stated that S Alam Vegetable Oil Ltd and S Alam Super Edible Oil Ltd had evaded paying VAT amounting to Tk 3,531 crore.