Congress Got Crores In Cash, Had Ample Time To Reply: Sources On Tax Charge

Congress leaders have said the party is being targeted.

New Delhi:

The Congress’ claims of “tax terrorism” based on fresh notices from the Income Tax department have been strongly countered by sources in the government agency, who have pointed out that incriminating material had been seized and the assessment proceedings are taking place now because they would have been time-barred on March 31 this year.

The sources said the Congress knew about the proceedings and had been given enough time to reply, including during the hearings in the Delhi High Court, which had denied the party relief. 

The Congress, which had earlier claimed its bank accounts had been frozen after the Income Tax authorities had imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore, had said on Friday that it had received a new tax notice from the department to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore.

The fresh notice was for the assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 (financial years 2016-17 to 2019-20) and included penalty and interest. 

Officials said income tax searches in April 2019 had revealed cash receipts by the Congress from Megha Engineering – which has emerged as the second-largest donor in the electoral bonds scheme -and others. This, they claimed, was discovered during raids on associates of Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. 

The total receipts in cash between 2013-14 to April 2019 were to the extent of Rs 626 crore, the officials claimed, and included proceedings of an alleged corruption scam. 

“These cash receipts have been established and corroborated in multiple ways, including documents found during searches, WhatsApp messages and recorded statements,” an official said.

Under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, money received by a political party is exempt if certain conditions are met, including not accepting amounts over more than Rs. 2,000. Since the Congress violated these conditions, it became liable to pay tax on its entire income, the officials said. 

“The reason that the Congress has been able to get a stay is that the Income Tax department has produced in courts detailed, corroborated evidence that is on record. If the Congress party thinks it is innocent, it should release the entire assessment order to the public and the truth will be revealed,” said a source. 

The Delhi High Court had, on Thursday, dismissed four petitions filed by the Congress against income tax reassessment proceedings being initiated against it for the 2017-18 to 2020-21 assessment years. 

‘Being Targeted’

On Saturday, the Congress said its leaders had got two more tax notices, apart from the Rs 1,800-crore demand notice. Youth Congress workers also held protests in Delhi against what the party has called the BJP-led Central government’s “tax terrorism”. 

“The Congress is being targeted and we are getting repeated notices. We got two more notices on Friday night. We had got four notices when we held the press conference yesterday and got two more later. I don’t know how many more will be sent,” senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the notices are proof that the BJP is “afraid” of the Congress and the INDIA alliance. “The BJP has understood they will lose the elections, so they are trying to create all types of fear. I also got an Income Tax notice last night about a settled matter,” he claimed.