India moves to seek tax info from Swiss authorities in Hassan Ali case

There seems to be some progress on the alleged tax evasion case of controversial Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan with the Metropolitan Magistrate of Mumbai....

There seems to be some progress on the alleged tax evasion case of controversial Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan with the Metropolitan Magistrate of Mumbai issuing letters rogatory to its Swiss counterparts for information about bank accounts in that country. Hassan Ali is alleged to have parked $8 billion in Swiss banks.

According to sources,the move will facilitate information seeking by Indian authorities. Earlier,the Swiss Federal Tax Administration had refused to share bank information with Indian authorities arguing that the information falls under banking secrecy laws of Switzerland. The income tax department,along with the Enforcement Directorate,has been probing the Hassan Ali tax evasion case for a while now.

The I-T department had first raided the premises of Hassan Ali in 2007 and found documents indicating that he had $8 billion in Swiss bank UBS. After seizing Rs 90 lakh from him and also attaching his three properties and stock in trade (horses),the department had raised a tax demand in December 2008 for Rs 71,846 crore on five people Hassan Ali Khan,his wife Rheema Hassan Ali Khan,Kashinath Tapuriah,his wife Chandrika Tapuriah and a firm,RM Investments Pvt Ltd. Khan has not filed his returns since 1999,the sources said.

During searches,the department also recovered a laptop belonging to a Pune-resident,Philip Anand Raj,indicating dealings with UBS,Zurich. The laptop contained scanned copies of documents relating to transactions showing that Hassan Ali had access to $8 billion kept in the bank. In another search at Kashinath Tapuriahs premises in Kolkata,the department seized documents relating to transfer instructions issued in December 2008 from London by Hassan Ali to UBS for transfer of funds from account number 206797786 to various persons. On being questioned by the I-T authorities,Hassan Ali and Tapuriah failed to explain the nature and source of funds.