K K Modi, chairman of the Modi Group, was today summoned as accused by a Delhi court in a blackmoney case filed by the Income Tax Department for allegedly attempting to evade tax by not disclosing money stashed in a Swiss bank.
The court took cognizance of the department's complaint and directed 75-year-old Krishan Kumar Modi, a South Delhi resident, to appear before it on April 25 in the alleged tax evasion case.
"Complainant has filed complaint for the offence under Sections 276C(1)(ii) (willful attempt to evade tax), 277 and 277(ii) (false statement in verification) of the I-T Act for the Assessment Years 2006-07 and 2007-08 with identical allegations against the accused," the court said.
After perusing the complaint and other documents, the court said "prima facie" offence was made out against Modi under the provisions of the I-T Act.
The department, which had filed the complaint yesterday, has alleged that Modi was holding an account with HSBC Bank in Geneva, Switzerland, which was opened on January 30, 2001.
It said a balance of over Rs 4.9 crore and over Rs 18.7 lakh was there in the Swiss account for the assessment years 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively. The department further said that neither the foreign account, nor the balance was disclosed by the accused in his return of income.
It claimed that a search was conducted at the premises of the accused in November 2011 and he was confronted on his undisclosed foreign bank account. In his statement recorded on oath, he had denied having any account outside India but showed willingness to pay tax, it added.
The department alleged it had issued a notice to him in July 2013 calling for details of his foreign account with HSBC Bank but he willfully did not disclose it.
A penalty of Rs 10,000 was levied on Modi for non- compliance of the department's notice, it said.
It said the industrialist had filed an application seeking stay on his prosecution, which was dismissed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Seeking his prosecution, the complaint alleged that he had willfully attempted to evade tax by not disclosing the income in foreign bank account and made a false statement on verification.