Cadbury’s Integrity Gap: Was Avoiding Taxes using a non-existing factory!

Not only have the Indian companies been adept at cheating the tax payers along with their brothers – the politicians, but they have taught the foreign companies to also learn some neat tricks.

It now seems Cadbury’s was avoiding taxes by showing a factory that wasn’t!

Cadbury Plc, now part of Mondelez International Inc (NasdaqGS: MDLZ – news) , used a nonexistent factory in India to avoid about $46 million (30.4 million pounds) in taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a report by the Indian tax authorities.

Cadbury’s Indian unit manipulated invoices and other documents to get an exemption from taxes available to companies that began production in new plants in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh by March 31, 2010, the Journal said. (link)

Cool.. huh!?  All the exemptions and no factory.