Anil Ambani Black Money Act notice: HC questions I-T dept on its relevance
How Acts criminalising certain action can have a retrospective effect; The I-T department charged Ambani with willful evasion, he did not disclose his foreign bank account details and financial interests to Indian tax authorities
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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday questioned the Income-Tax (I-T) department's move seeking to prosecute Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani under the Black Money Act for alleged tax evasion, and asked how Acts criminalising certain action can have a retrospective effect.
A Division Bench of Justices Gautam Patel and SG Dige, while hearing a petition by Ambani challenging a show cause notice issued to him by the I-T department, asked how a person conducting himself or herself in a certain manner will know what the government is going to do in future.
The High Court posted the matter for hearing on February 20 and extended its September 2022 order directing the I-T department to not take any coercive action against Ambani till then. The I-T department had issued a notice to Ambani on August 8, 2022, for allegedly evading Rs420 crore in taxes on undisclosed funds worth more than Rs814 crore held in two Swiss bank accounts. As per the department's notice, Ambani was liable to be prosecuted under Sections 50 and 51 of the Black Money (undisclosed foreign income and assets) Imposition of Tax Act of 2015, which stipulates a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment with a fine.
