VG Siddhartha, the founder of Cafe Coffee Day and son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna is missing since Monday (July 29) night. However, several netizens have attributed his disappearance to 'tax terrorism' in the country
Bengaluru: "I have failed as an entrepreneur," VG Siddhartha, who went missing on the night of July 29, said in a letter purportedly written to the board of directors and employees of Coffee Day Enterprises, he founded.
However, several people on social media are attributing Siddhartha's disappearance to "tax terrorism" as the letter claimed that he was "harassed" by tax officials.
Siddhartha alleged in the letter that he faced a lot of harassment by the previous director general of Income Tax in the form of attaching "our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking possession of our Coffee Day shares, although revised returns have been filed by us".
The son-in-law of SM Krishna also added that "This was very unfair and led to a serious liquidity crunch".
"I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with new management. I am solely responsible for all mistakes. Every financial transaction is my responsibility," Siddhartha said, adding his team, auditors and senior management were "unaware" of his transactions.
Siddhartha said the law should hold him accountable, as he had withheld this information from everybody including his family.
Claiming that his intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, he said, "I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me".
Siddhartha said, "...our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody,” the letter read.