Swiss account :No criminal prosecution against assessee

No criminal prosecution against assessee due to having Swiss account if he had furnished its details to revenue

HIGH COURT OF DELHI

Shravan Gupta

v.

Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax

MANMOHAN SINGH, J.

CRL. M.C. NO. 1100 OF 2015
CRL. M.A. NO. 4098 OF 2015

APRIL  6, 2015 

Section 142, read with sections 276, and 279, of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Assessment - Inquiry before assessment (Criminal prosecution) - Assessment years 2006-07 and 2007-08 - Assessee had a foreign bank account with HSBC, Switzerland - Huge amount was lying in said account was closed - Said account was closed - Notice issued to assessee under section 142(1) to furnish details of his bank accounts, in reply of which assessee submitted same to authorities - Revenue authorities rejected details furnished by assessee - Commissioner (Appeals) issued sanction on account of non-compliance of section 142(1) and, accordingly, launched criminal prosecution under section 279 - Assessee challenged said prosecution filing writ submitting that assessee already furnished relevant document such as bank statement and said facts were conveyed to authorities by sending letters on different dates - Whether on facts, summoning order issued to assessee was to be remanded back for disposal afresh after considering assessee's reply to notice under section 142(1) - Held, yes [Paras 20 & 21] [In favour of assessee]