Termite-tax trouble: IT Dept slaps Rs 56-crore penalty on Abhishek Manu Singhvi

New Delhi, Nov 12: The Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi was embroiled into an alleged tax fraud controversy on Tuesday, Nov 6.

According to a report published in the Indian Express, the Income Tax Settlement Commission (ITSC) rejected Singhvi's claim that ‘termites ate up his tax records' and slapped Rs 56-crore penalty on him. [Read: Home Remedies To Get Rid Of Termites]

On December 13, 2012, Singhvi had told the Commission that 'termites' had destroyed all his tax-related records, expense vouchers and documents.

The IT Dept and the Commission also revealed that Singhvi had bought "laptops worth Rs 5 crore for members of his staff over three financial years".

In 2013, Singhvi had approached the Commission to seek immunity from penalty and prosecution.

I have been the 'highest' tax-payer among lawyers, says Singhvi

Singhvi told the Indian Express that "he has been the highest tax-payer or the second highest tax payer in the legal profession each year."

He was quoted as saying, "Even in this case, the entire income was received by cheque, so were the expenses. So it is a case of over-expenditure and the department not agreeing to it. I went to the Settlement Commission suo motu before any survey or investigation started since I could not back up my claim due to destruction of records, and the loss of which I had reported to police before the I-T probe even began."

In September this year, Singhvi had approached the Jodhpur High Court to grant him a stay over the Commission's 103-page order.

Singhvi also alleged that he had been "trapped" in a "cat and mouse game" and argued that the Commission did not have the jurisdiction to impose penalty on him.

OneIndia News