Top Stories Failure to disclose International Address in Tax Evasion case u/ Black Money Act: Delhi HC sustains Criminal Complaint [Read Order] The decision was rendered by the Delhi High Court while adjudicating a plea by arraigned alleged Arms Dealer Sanjay Bhandari By Avinash Kurungot – On November 20, 2024 6:51 pm – 2 mins read The Delhi High Court recently dismissed a plea seeking quashal of a criminal complaint in a tax evasion case under The Black Money ( Undisclosed Foreign Income And Assets ) and Imposition Of Tax Act, 2015 ( Black Money Act ), noting that the arraigned Petitioner had failed to disclose their international address to the investigating authorities.

The decision was given by the Delhi High Court while hearing a Criminal Miscellaneous Petition and allied Applications filed by alleged arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari seeking to quash criminal complaints filed by The Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Central), New Delhi under Section 51(1) of the Black Money Act and allied summon order issued by the Court of the learned Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi ( ACMM ). Boost Your Business with SME IPO Funding Strategies – Enroll Now Briefly stated, the facts follow search and seizure conducted at the premises of the Petitioner wherein it was uncovered that the Petitioner had failed to file their returns of income for the Assessment Year (A.Y.) 2012-13. Numerous allegations were raised against the Petitioner, including the Petitioner’s upkeep of alleged foreign bank accounts, immovable properties, and interests in offshore entities.

Counsel for the Petitioner, Dayan Krishnan along with Avneesh Arputham, Ankit Sharma and Abhishek raised multifarious defenses with one being against the non-bailable warrant issued by the ACMM on the basis of summons issued to the Petitioner remaining unserved, as the Petitioner had been residing outside India for over three years. Senior Standing Counsel Zoheb Hossain along with Sanjeev Menon Vivek Gurnani and Manish Dubey appearing for the Respondent Income Tax Office alluded to the Petitioner’s involvement in backdating and fabrication of documents to show the Petitioner as the Sole Trustee of a UAE-based trust. The Revenue also alleged the Petitioner’s ownership of undisclosed foreign assets which were never disclosed in the Petitioner’s Income Tax returns for multiple A.Y. despite being mandatorily required to do so.

Boost Your Business with SME IPO Funding Strategies – Enroll Now The Single-Judge Bench of the Delhi High Court presided over by Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma observed that whether a wilful attempt to evade tax under provisions of Section 51(3) of the Black Money Act had been undertaken by the Petitioner by backdating/fabricating documents is a matter of trial, and refused to set aside the summoning order issued against Sanjay Bhandari by the ACMM. Additionally, the Bench observed that the Petitioner’s affidavit had been executed in the United Kingdom, but had not been duly attested and neither had the Petitioner revealed his place of residence in the U.K. Deeming such conduct to be done with ‘unclean hands’, the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea of the Petitioner and allied Applications