TAXATION UPDATES 23.02.2019

ICAI TO PROCEED AGAINST CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT ARRESTED FOR GST EVASION

The disciplinary directorate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has decided to proceed against the Chartered Accountant arrested in Meerut last day for availing fake input tax credit under the GST regime. The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Meerut Zonal Unit, has arrested a Chartered accountant, namely, Gaurav Jindal, 27 last day and sent him to jail. The arrested person is a Chartered Accountant and the Disciplinary Directorate of ICAI is seized of the matter. Elaborating on the matter, senior intelligence officer Devender Kumar said, These offenders created multiple companies/firms using either their own PAN card and voter id; or in the name of family members and employees of their firm solely for the purpose of fake billing without the supply of goods. The search revealed that the firms issued fake invoices of more than Rs 210 crore in value thereby passing on and cashing on the input tax credit of about Rs 50 crore illegally. Interestingly these companies or firms are not engaged in normal business activities as they neither have any godowns for storage nor they receive or supply goods. They wrongly availed ITC without actual purchase of goods in their firms/companies and encashed the same by the issuance of export invoices and claiming IGST refund thereon from customs, said DGGI intelligence officer Aishwarya Atri. The Director (Discipline) is the authority to consider the prima facie opinion in respect of All Information and Complaints where opinion of the Director is that the member is prima facie guilty of professional or other misconduct mentioned in the First Schedule to the Act and all cases where prima facie opinion is that the member is not guilty of any professional or other misconduct irrespective of Schedules and passing of Orders.

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PRIVATE VAULTS IN VARDAAN MARKET UNDER I-T LENS

More than 2,000 private safe-deposit vaults housed in the basement of a bustling shopping complex in Kolkata’s Park Street area have caught the attention of the income tax department The investigation unit of the department has for the past few days been searching the vaults in the Vardaan Market Shopping Complex basement, operated by Shree Vardaan Safe Deposit Vaults, following a tipoff that those included some benami lockers with unaccounted cash and jewellery. Of the vaults of different sizes, 647 have been allotted to individuals, said a committee member of the Vardaan Shop and Office Owners Association. Tax officials said they had so far opened about 140 lockers and found unaccounted cash of Rs 1.35 crore and jewellery worth Rs 1.1 crore. Verification of the contents of other lockers is still in progress. The investigation will take more than a month to complete, one of them said, adding: If the contents are accounted for or declared, we will leave those. So far, they said, nothing benami has been found The lockers appear to have been rented out to small and mid-size businessmen and individuals, said the officials.

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MONEY-LAUNDERING CASE: DELHI COURT EXTENDS RAJIV SAXENA’S INTERIM BAIL TILL FEBRUARY 25

A Delhi court Friday extended till February 25 the interim bail granted to Rajiv Saxena who has been arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Saxena after perusing the medical reports filed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The court said it would consider his bail plea on February 25, the next date of hearing.

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INDIA CURRENTLY WORKING WITH ASEAN ON MULTIPLE CONNECTIVITY PROJECTS

Rajnath Singh has urged the ASEAN nations and the International Community to support India’s fight against terrorists and terrorist organisations He said an environment of peace and security are prerequisites for trade and commerce to flourish. This Summit must acknowledge the fact and ensure that the soil of any country should not be used for propagating terrorism, he said. Rajnath Singh said that there exists immense potential to strengthen and deepen cooperation in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations violent extremism and radicalization through Information sharing, Law enforcement cooperation and capacity building and Anti-money laundering and countering terror-financing. Shri Rajnath Singh said that more than half of India’s foreign trade now goes to the East. The Home Minister called for increased people-to-people contact, connectivity and trade ties with the ASEAN nations. Strengthening India’s economic relations with the countries in the East is one of the main objectives of India’s ‘Act East Policy’ said Shri Rajnath Singh. Our engagement with ASEAN has acquired a new dimension with our Prime Minister’s vision to ‘Act East’, he added. Total bilateral trade has increased more than threefold from US$21 billion in 2005-06 to US$ 81.33 billion in 2017-18. ASEAN has emerged as the second largest trade partner of India in 2017-18, with a share of 10.58% in India’s overall trade.

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REMOVAL OF TARIFF CRUCIAL TO ACHIEVE BILATERAL TRADE TARGET OF USD 200 BY 2022-CR CHAUDHARY

C R Chaudhary said that India’s trade relationship with ASEAN is a key pillar of its regional policy and the foundation of its Act East Policy which is further reinforced by increase in trade in goods and services and investment agreements. CR Chaudhary said that India accords high priority to its economic and trade ties with ASEAN and it has yielded rich dividends over the years. India-ASEAN bilateral trade increased to USD 81.3 billion in 2017–18 from USD 56.2 billion in 2010–11 registering a growth of 16.04%.He said that India and ASEAN have enhanced their bilateral trade target to USD 200 billion and to achieve this target removing tariff is very crucial. MoS Commerce and Industry further said India and ASEAN have emerged as economically strong region growing at steady pace despite global slowdowns. He said India’s economy is forecast to expand by 7.5 per cent during the 2019-20 and remain the fastest growing major economy in a world of slowing growth. ASEAN economy is expected to grow at 4.7% in 2019. He said India and ASEAN with over USD 5 trillion combined economy present innumerable opportunities in multiple sectors for investors across the globe. The Minister further said that the services sector remains the key driver of India’s economic growth and its share in the global exports which grew from 3.1 per cent in 2014 to 3.47 in 2017 is expected to reach 4.2 per cent by 2022. The services sector is poised to be a game changer in India’s growth story and is expected to achieve USD 3 billon size out of 5 trillion Indian economy by 2025.

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MONEY LAUNDERING CASE PROBE: ROBERT VADRA APPEARS BEFORE ED FOR 5TH TIME IN DELHI

Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on Friday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the fifth time in connection with a money-laundering case related to purchase of alleged illegal assets abroad, officials said. Mr. Vadra reached the agency’s office at Jamnagar House in central Delhi shortly before 11 am, they said. He has been grilled in this case four times in the past, the last being February 20. Officials said the agency is confronting Mr. Vadra with documents and statements of other accused being investigated in the case and his statement is being recorded section 50 (powers of authorities regarding summons, production of documents and to give evidence) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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VIVEK DOVAL DEFAMATION PLEA: COURT RESERVES ORDER ON WHETHER TO SUMMON JAIRAM RAMESH, CARAVAN

A Delhi court Friday reserved its order on whether to summon Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, The Caravan magazine and its reporter as accused in a defamation plea filed by NSA Ajit Doval's son Vivek against the magazine. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal said it will pass the order on March 2 on whether to summon them as accused in the plea. Vivek, in his complaint, had said the magazine and Ramesh had attempted to deliberately malign and defame him to settle scores with his father. The Caravan had alleged that Vivek Doval, runs a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands which is an established tax haven According to the complaint, Ramesh had held a press conference on January 17 reiterating the baseless and unfounded facts as narrated in the article.

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END TIES WITH NATIONS WHERE TERROR EMANATES: BCCI WRITES TO ICC

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) raising Indian cricket board's (BCCI) concerns about the attacks on CRPF soldiers in Pulwama on February 14 and asking the other cricket-playing nations to sever ties with countries from which terrorism emanates In an e-mail to the ICC, we have expressed our concerns about the terrorist attack that has taken place. We are telling them that security of players and match officials should be appropriately taken care of, CoA chief Vinod Rai said. And number two, we must sever ties with nations from which such terrorism emanates. We will express our concern on an appropriate forum Rai said indicating that the matter will be raised at the ICC quarterly Board meeting in Dubai. The ICC meeting is scheduled to be held from February 26 to March 2. Rai said that the board will take a call only after having a discussion with the government of India. Three months is a long time. We will talk about the World Cup match with the government and then decide, Rai said. In another development, the CoA has decided to scrap the IPL opening ceremony to help the families of the martyred soldiers. We will not have the opening ceremony this year. We will use that budget and donate to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives in that attack, Rai informed.

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PULWAMA TERROR AFTERMATH: SC GIVES STRICT DIRECTIONS TO CENTRE AND STATES TO PROTECT KASHMIRIS, MINORITIES

The Supreme Court on Friday gave strict directions to the Centre and several States to protect Kashmiris and minority communities especially students, from violence or backlash in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack of February 14 which had led to the loss of 40 CRPF personnel lives. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ordered the chief secretaries and police chiefs across several conflict-prone States to be on their toes and nip violent tendencies in the bud. States’ police chiefs have been told to direct their officers to promptly take action on complaints The nodal officers appointed by the Centre should act to prevent and defuse tensions, the court said. The petition filed by advocate Tariq Adeeb was taken up urgently as the first item for hearing even though it was numbered 51 in the day’s list of cases. The petition sought that the court direct the Centre to forthwith take steps to prevent threats, assaults, violent attacks, social boycotts, ostracism, evictions and other coercive acts committed by groups and mobs against Kashmiris and other minorities, particularly in the wake of the Pulawama attack. It referred to incidents of violence against these communities in States like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, J&K, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal. The court issued notice to these States and added two more — Punjab and Maharashtra — to the list. The court scheduled the case for hearing next on Friday.

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IT'S INTRIGUING CONG NEEDS LESSONS ON NATIONAL SECURITY: JAITLEY

Arun Jaitley Friday took pot shots at the Congress, saying it is intriguing that the party which ruled India for half a decade needs to be educated on national security issues a day after the party roped in surgical strike architect D S Hooda to head a national security task force. He also asked the Congress not to give an impression that India is divided on how to fight terrorism. Lt Gen D S Hooda (Retd) will head a Congress task force on national security. Acknowledging General Hooda as an experienced and distinguished former officer of the Indian Army, Jaitley said, I have not the least doubt that he would give a very valuable advice to the grand old Party. Finance Minister said the appointment of the retired General is significant as it is a belated and grudging recognition and acceptance of the surgical strikes with which Hooda was intrinsically associated. I am sure the Head of the Advisory Panel would educate the Party leaders that the surgical strikes were no routine step which had been taken several times in the past, but a significant first for India, he said. The Congress has been accusing the Modi government of politicising the surgical strikes. He hoped the experts would render to the Congress President on strategic issues while highlighting some of the basic points which are integrally connected to consistency on the issue of national security. Do not give an impression to the world that India is divided on how to fight terrorism. When the world is rallying around India, the Opposition in India should not be striking a discordant note, the minister said. Further, next time if extremists and separatists raise slogans on how to break India (the JNU incident), no one from mainstream parties should pay a supporting visit to them, Jaitley said and added there is no freedom of speech to advocate a breakup of India. In an apparent reference to the Congress raising the Rafale jet deal issue, he said political parties should not politicise defence procurement on false and imaginary facts for petty gains as it hurts defence preparedness.

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KULBHUSHAN JADHAV CASE: INDIA, PAKISTAN CONCLUDE FINAL ARGUMENTS

The judicial review process available to Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistan was hopelessly insufficient while Pakistan was basing its case entirely on claims around a passport and an extracted confession, India’s counsel Harish Salve told the court as he kicked off the second round of oral arguments in the hearings at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday, with a sharp attack on the tone and content of Pakistan’s presentation on Tuesday. Deepak Mittal called on the court to adjudicate on an egregious breach of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and to order that Jadhav be given consular access. And if the court was not able to annul the verdict of the military court and order the release of Jadhav, he called on it to annul the military court verdict and order a civilian trial through the ordinary courts, after excluding the extracted confession from evidence and providing him with consular access. India insists that contrary to Pakistan’s contention, the Vienna convention is not subject to exceptions on any grounds – including national security and espionage. Khawar Qureshi accused India of failing to answer any questions and of engaging in deflection, diversion and propaganda. At the end of Wednesday’s proceedings ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf had clarified that Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani — Pakistan’s ad-hoc judge for the case — did not need to be replaced at this stage, despite being taken ill and not attending the first three days, as he had already been participating in the case ahead of the hearings, and would still be able to continue to participate by watching recordings or reading transcripts of the case. However, he left open the possibility of a replacement at a later stage should Jillani still be unable to attend. Salve accused Pakistan of failing to accord the proceedings with the dignity and solemnity, they were due, and criticised the strong language that had been used. India takes exception to being addressed in this fashion in this court, he said, pointing to some of the phrases that had been deployed including the use of words such as arrogance, ridiculous, disgraceful. Humpty dumpty has no place in this court, he said, pointing to a reference made by Qureshi to the nursery rhyme, accusing India of building a flimsy wall of lies. As an old saying goes when you have the facts, you hammer the facts, when you have the law you hammer the law, when you have neither the facts nor the law you hammer the table, Salve told the court. He also criticised the reference to a Rs 90,605 payment that Pakistan said had been paid by way of pay rather than pension to Jadhav’s account. Our team has in the time available searched the entire material [submitted by Pakistan] and not found it,’ he noted. He also criticised several last-minute applications that had been made to the court by the Pakistani legal team at the end of proceedings on Monday, including a request to be able to show a video of an alleged further confession, that was subsequently referred to by Qureshi during proceedings. Why had an application to share this only been made at the last minute, when it had allegedly been made in November last year, he asked the court. India’s position is that of Wonderland. Indeed it is of a rotund character with a fragile cranium. Pakistan is not the one who brought him into this court, he said, in an apparent reference to Salve’s comments slamming the language and tone of Qureshi’s opening arguments, and his reference to Humpty Dumpty. He also accused India of misrepresenting the introduction of a photograph in one of his presentations – that of Doval – who he described as India’s self styled super spy. If he ever visits London there is a vacancy for an actor to play James Bond. Judgements by the ICJ are made on average within 6 months of the hearings concluding though this can vary from a shorter period to a couple of years. The decision of the court is binding, and non-appealable, though it is possible to make a request for interpretation if there is a dispute between the two sides as to what the judgement means or what its scope is.

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INDO-CANADA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND TPCI TO WORK CLOSELY TO DEVELOP BILATERAL TRADE

A high level delegation of Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce was on a 10-day visit to India to develop bilateral trade relations between Canada and India and to discuss joint investment opportunities in Canada and also create business and professional opportunities for the Canadian small businesses in India. President of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, Pramod Goyal, said that the focus of the delegation was on sectors like infrastructure development, information and communication technology, advanced manufacturing, financial services, tourism, business immigration, education and skills development. All these sectors continue to show tremendous potential and are expected to become the pivots for enhancing the bilateral trade between the two countries. He further said that growing trade tensions between USA and China and its emphasis on adding dollar value in US economy through manufacturing will also compel Canada to look East and specially to a growing market like India to promote trade to ensure growth and employment opportunities for its small entrepreneurs. Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) assured the visiting delegation to facilitate technology transfer and trade promotion A proposal to bring ‘Innovation Canada’ approved expertise in sewage treatment, waste management and recycling was also discussed. Some other proposals discussed included promoting Indian food and value-added products in Canada, investments in JVs by Indian businessmen in Canada, bringing high-end flooring and sanitary products to India, importing cheap but quality bitumen and lubricants to India and trade in canola oil and maple syrup with India. A group of 33 leading buyers from Canada visited Indus Food 2019, a tradeshow on food and beverages, which saw business worth USD 1.2 billion being conducted.

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PULWAMA ATTACK: PAKISTAN TO STAY ON FATF 'GREY LIST' FOR TERROR FINANCING

Terror financing watchdog FATF has decided to keep Pakistan on the grey list till October This, after India made a strong push to ensure that Islamabad is not taken off the list, in the light of the Pulwama terror attack. The decision keeps international pressure on Pakistan to clean up its act on terror support and terror financing. Pakistan has made only limited progress on curbing money laundering and terrorism financing failing to show a proper understanding of the risks posed by JuD, LeT, JeM and others, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force said. Given the limited progress on action plan items the FATF urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan, particularly those with timelines of May 2019, the FATF said in a statement. Pakistan had to demonstrate compliance on five counts by February, but there has been negligible movement by Islamabad. It needed to show sanctions were being applied in cases of money laundering and terrorism financing, demonstrate better cooperation between authorities identifying illegal money flows, and enhance support for prosecutors, among other measures, the FATF said.

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PAKISTAN ARMY SAYS COUNTRY DOESN'T WISH FOR WAR, BUT WARNS INDIA OF 'SURPRISE'

The Pakistan Army on Friday said the country does not wish for war but warned India of surprise in case it takes any aggressive military measures amidst heightened tensions between the two sides following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. Asif Ghafoor also said that India blamed Pakistan for the Pulwama attack without due investigation and New Delhi has not yet accepted the reality of partition. We have a 72-year history. The partition happened in 1947 and Pakistan was liberated. India still hasn't been able to accept that, the Army spokesman said after the terror strike by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. We are not preparing for war, you (India) are issuing threats we have right to respond to the threats. We are not preparing to initiate but planning to defend and retaliate which is our right, the Army spokesman said. He further said: Should you (India) initiate any reaction first, you would never be able to surprise us we will surprise you. He said when it comes to India, Pakistan has singleness of conception. We have will and determination. Ghafoor warned that military response this time will be different in case of war. We are not the army of past, we are a battle-hardened army. We have fought against an unseen enemy and won, he said. The army spokesman said that we can respond to full spectrum threat and warned I hope you (India) get (the message) and do not mess with Pakistan. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday authorised the Army to take all measures to defend the country in case of any attack.

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JEM MENTION IN UNSC STATEMENT ONLY IN GENERAL TERMS NOT A JUDGEMENT: CHINA

China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Friday sought to downplay the scathing statement issued by the powerful organ of the world body naming Jaish-e-Muhammad in the Pulwama terror attack, saying the mention of the Pakistan-based outfit was only in general terms and does not represent a judgement The powerful UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday strongly condemned the heinous and cowardly terror attack. The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir. China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that Beijing was closely following the developments related to the terror incident. UN Security Council issued a press statement that mentioned that a particular organisation but only in general terms. It does not represent a judgment on the attack, Geng said. China hopes all parties will work to find the truth about this attack. We hope Pakistan and India will engage in dialogue to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, he said.

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PULWAMA ATTACK: CHINA FORCED DELAY IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL STATEMENT ON TERROR ATTACK FOR ONE WEEK

China's lone opposition in the 15-member UN Security Council to any mention of terrorism resulted in a delay of nearly one week in the issuance of a statement by the powerful body on the dastardly Pulwama terror attack, official sources said on Friday. However, the US assiduously worked as pen holder making various adjustments to get the approval by all other members of the Council, the sources told PTI. While China was trying to water down the UNSC statement on Pulwama, Pakistan worked against issuance of any statement. The UN Security Council comprising 15 permanent and non-permanent members on Thursday condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on February 14. Sharing details of diplomatic wranglings on the matter, the sources said the UNSC statement on Pulwama was to be issued on the evening of February 15 but China repeatedly sought extension of timing. China requested extension till Feb 18 when 14 member countries were ready to issue it on February 15 itself, they said, adding China broke silence procedure two times suggesting multiple amendments aiming to derail the effort Even after UNSC condemned the Pulwama strike as terrorism China continued to oppose any mention of terrorism in the statement, said a person familiar with the diplomatic parleys on the issue at the UN headquarters. However, notwithstanding hectic Chinese and Pakistani efforts, the UNSC agreed to issue the first statement in its history regarding an attack on Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said. India has mounted a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan in the international community for its support to terror groups and cross border terrorism. In the statement, the UNSC also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. The UNSC also urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with India and all other relevant authorities to bring perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

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Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya