The Income-tax department collected documents from MNO Bank which revealed that M/s. Aster Travels and Consultancy Services (Aster Travels) had…

The Income-tax department collected documents from MNO Bank which revealed that M/s. Aster Travels and Consultancy Services (Aster Travels) had remitted substantial amounts abroad. The documents collected include Form 15CB issued by the chartered accountant, list of passengers, copy of their passports, date of travel and invoice raised by the foreign party. On enquiring from the passengers and verifying their passports, it is found that they did not travel abroad during the dates mentioned in the documents. Further, the passengers denied any sort of transactions with Aster Travels. The department, therefore, concluded that the amounts were remitted abroad on the basis of false invoices and for wrong reasons, leading to FEMA violations and that the Form 15CB issued by the chartered accountant facilitated such violations. During the nine-month period in question, the chartered accountant had issued 105 certificates in Form 15CB approximately involving remittances of 22 crores in favour of Aster Travels. The chartered accountant submitted that he had issued Form 15CB based on invoices produced by the company and verifying the KYC documents of the signatory to the invoices. He however, failed to bring on record the invoices. He further submitted that since he was not the statutory auditor of the company, he did not examine the books of account before issue of Form 15CB or conduct due diligence of its business activities. He had charged - 3,500 per certificate. Mostly, the fees was collected in cash. Some part of the fee was credited to his bank account. Examine the ethical implications in this case.