NEW DELHI: In a relief to Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani, the Bombay High Court on Monday restrained the income tax department from taking any action till November 17 on a prosecution notice issued against Ambani in a black money case.
A show cause notice was issue to Anil Ambani under the Foreign Black Money Act for non-disclosure of assets worth Rs 814 crore. The notice also accused Anil Ambani of tax evasion of Rs 420 crore. The show cause notice was issued in August this year.
According to the income tax department’s notice, Ambani was a beneficial owner of a Bahamas-based entity Diamond Trust and a British Virgin Island-based company North Atlantic Trading Unlimited. I-T notice has alleged that Ambani failed to disclose these foreign assets in his income tax returns, hence violated the Foreign Black Money Act. Under the Act, such non-disclosures are liable to a maximum punishment of 10-years of imprisonment.
The counsel representing Ambani argued in the court that the Foreign Black Money Act came into force in 2015, while the said transactions took place between 2006-07 and 2010-11, and questioned the applicability of the law on those transactions.
The court, while noting that several petitions regarding the retrospective applicability of the law were pending before many HCs, asked the I-T department to respond to the petioner’s contention on retrospective applicability of the law.