The Income Tax Department, Karnataka and Goa circle, Bengaluru, has booked criminal cases against a real estate businessman from the city and a mining company head from Goa for not disclosing their alleged Swiss Bank accounts and transaction details.
Jitendra Virwani, Chairman and Managing Director of Embassy Group, a city-based property development company, and Dattaraj V. Salgaocar, Managing Director of V.M. Salgaocar Group of Companies, Goa, have been booked for refusing to disclose particulars of accounts allegedly held by them with HSBC Bank, Geneva. The department has already launched prosecution against two other businessmen from Bengaluru.
The Special Court for Economic Offences, Bengaluru, had recently ordered issue of summons to Mr. Virwani, based on the case registered by the department under Section 276C (1) of the I-T Act, for his “wilful” attempt to evade tax by not disclosing deposits maintained by him and his ex-wife with HSBC Bank. A similar case has been registered against Mr. Salgaocar before the jurisdictional court at Vasco, where the case is at the initial stage of hearing. The department, based on secret information obtained through diplomatic channel on the HSBC Bank account, had given many opportunities to Mr. Virwani since 2011 to provide details of deposits and transactions of the account. Though Mr. Virwani denied having any account in HSBC, Geneva, he paid the tax in relation to the amount that was found deposited in the account, which the department claimed belonged to him and was opened in 2001 and had a deposit of $ 14,500.
As Mr. Virwani did not sign a consent waiver form, which enables the authorities to send it to the bank on his behalf and get information of a particular account, the department claimed there was no problem for signing the form if he had no account with the bank.
Heads of city-based Embassy Group and Goa’s V.M. Salgaocar Group
in the soup
