Jet Airways chief Goyal denies tax evasion

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal has denied any evading of tax payment. This is after a notice to him from the income tax (I-T) department, seeking details of his foreign bank accounts. Goyal is formally a non-resident Indian and his Isle of Man (UK) registered company, Tail Winds, owns 79 per cent stake in the airline.

The notice was served some days earlier under sections 131 and 148 of the I-T Act. An I-T officer can serve a notice under section 148 when there is material to believe an individual's income has escaped assessment. Section 131 allows the department to summon the assessee for any query to help determine the extent of tax.

Goyal confirmed getting the notices from the department but denied any wrongdoing. "We have complied with the notice received under sections 131 and 148. There is neither any violation nor any evasion of tax,'' he said in a statement to this paper.

According to a television channel, the notice under section 148 sought to reopen the assessment of Tail Wind's accounts for 2006-07.

The channel said Goyal immediately responded to the first notice, stating the Tail Winds account was officially disclosed to and approved by the Reserve Bank of India, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the ministry of civil aviation. It also said the notice pertained to Tail Wind's account in HSBC Bank, Geneva.

However, this could not be independently verified.

Recently, the I-T department issued notices to about 100 persons for allegedly holding undisclosed bank accounts in HSBC, Geneva. These were among 700 Swiss bank account holders whose names figured in a list shared by the French authorities with the Indian government a few months earlier, a media report said.