Thiruvananthapuram: The special investigation team (SIT) of Keralam’s state GST department has quantified Rs 25.78 crore in tax dues against Reporter Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (RBC) and flagged Rs 234.31 crore in bank credits that it said remained unreconciled with the company’s declared GST turnover. The probe was conducted in connection with the proposed event involving Argentina Football Federation (AFA).The 43-page report dated Sept 7, accessed by TOI, recommends recovery and scrutiny by enforcement directorate, income tax department, Reserve Bank of India and directorate general of GST intelligence. SIT, however, said the tax liability remains subject to final determination under law.RBC MD Anto Augustine said the report’s concerns were reaching him only as “hearsay” or through the media, as neither he nor the company was asked for its version. He said RBC could have provided legitimate explanations.Augustine said RBC understood exemptions applied to international sporting events. If GST was payable, “we will remit that GST too,” he said, adding that the company had a 36-month window to do so.According to SIT, Rs 22.69 crore IGST was payable under reverse charge on Rs 126.04 crore remitted to AFA through Tour Prod Enter LLC. It also quantified Rs 34.15 lakh IGST on five foreign legal and Court of Arbitration for Sport fee payments and Rs 2.75 crore ineligible input tax credit relating to stadium works and football club membership fees.The SIT said RBC’s bank accounts received Rs 549.22 crore against GST turnover of Rs 102.06 crore, leaving Rs 234.31 crore requiring transaction-wise reconciliation. It also flagged about Rs 213 crore raised externally — Rs 137.75 crore from Sree Gokulam Chit and Finance and Rs 75 crore from Hinduja Leyland Finance.The report said RBC had produced a board resolution covering only Rs 100 crore of the Sree Gokulam amount, leaving Rs 37.75 crore unexplained. It said Hinduja Leyland Finance sanctioned six loans in different names, all credited to RBC’s single SBI account.SIT flagged six allegedly undisclosed bank accounts. An ICICI dollar account, it said, received payments from Google Ireland, Google Asia Pacific and Meta Platforms, requiring GST reporting verification. The SIT also questioned RBC’s claimed Rs 70 crore stadium renovation expenditure against a GCDA assessment of Rs 8.42 crore and about Rs 14.5 crore in GSTR-2B inward supplies.The SIT recommended an independent inquiry into an alleged instruction by a senior GST intelligence officer on Oct 8, 2025, to keep proceedings against RBC on hold until the football event concluded.
