AgustaWestland scam: Supreme Court nod resurrects black money probe against Gautam Khaitan

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Income Tax authorities to revive tax evasion proceedings against the foreign undisclosed assets of lawyer Gautam Khaitan, an accused in the AgustaWestland scam.

The court order came following an appeal filed by the Centre against an order of the Delhi High Court, by which I-T proceedings against Khaitan were stayed. A vacation bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah ordered a stay on the HC order despite Khaitan's lawyers pointing out that the matter is listed for further hearing on July 4.

The apex court issued a notice to Khaitan seeking his response within six weeks. His lawyer, PV Kapur, said the HC had stayed the I-T order as it found that the proceeding initiated against his client under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 which came into force in April 2016. Kapur said that the law passed in 2016 could not be retrospectively applied to his case of July 2015.

However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta demanded a stay of the HC order, arguing it was done so by way of a central notification. But Kapur argued that even the power to issue such a notification was available to the Centre after April 2016. The bench issued its notice to Khaitan and asked him to file his response to the government's petition within six weeks.

THE CASE

The case against Gautam Khaitan was filed for not disclosing income tax on his undeclared foreign assets. He is already facing an ED probe for money laundering in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland scam