Luxury Car Scam Investigation Widens

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has widened its investigation in to the luxury car import scam. DRI Officials have sought permission from the Ministry of External Affairs to question North Korean and Vietnamese embassy officials. The DRI is also investigating if six other embassies are also involved in the luxury car scam.

According to DRI officials, these embassies had imported stolen cars through the network of the scam's kingpin Sumit Walia. These imported cars were then sold as new to several Indian celebrities.

DRI Officials are yet to get any intimation from the External Affairs ministry. This may delay the investigation and some of the suspects might also leave the country.

When the luxury car scam was unearthed by the DRI, many of the cars sold by Sumit Walia were abandoned by their owners. The list of such cars is astounding considering one of them was Rs.2.2 crore Aston Martin and another was a Rs.1.5 crore Bentley. DRI officials have so far seized more than 45 high profile cars including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Hummer, Aston Martin and Bentley.

DRI Officials are in the process of seizing three more luxury cars owned by a daughter of UPA Minister from Maharastra. The import duty of a new car is 109 per cent while for a used car, the import duty will increase to 160 per cent. The owners of these seized luxury cars can escape any penalty if they pay the specified duty and penalties.