The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Bench has set aside the addition of nearly Rs.2014 crores to the income towards the account of late Harshad Mehta, who was the lynch pin of the stock market scam of the 1990s. In an order passed on February 14, the Tribunal allowed the appeals contested on behalf of late Harshad Mehta by his wife Jyoti Mehta, and brother Ashwin Mehta. The subject matter was the order passed by Assessment Officer on March 15, 2016 determining Mehta's income as Rs.2340 crores for the assessment years 1992-93 & 1993-94, in the third round of litigation after earlier orders of remand passed by the ITAT.
The assessment was built on fresh additions and disallowances such as 'money market oversold position' (Rs 1,080.58 crore), 'money market unexplained stock' (Rs 291.05 crore), 'profit on sale of shares in shortage' (Rs 253.16 crore), 'unexplained money' (Rs 251.8 crore), 'interest on securities in money market' (Rs 58.27 crore), 'money market difference received' (Rs 35.55 crore), 'share market trading profit' (Rs 16 crore) etc
Mehta, a stock broker, exploited the loopholes in the Ready Forward (RF) Deal and Bank Receipts and manipulated stock markets by issuing fake securities to banks. The scam was exposed in 1992, leading to registration of around 72 cases against him. He died in 2003, when around 23 cases were pending against him,. The favorable order could lead to lifting of attachment over properties worth crores belonging to Mehtas.
Courtesy/By: Sakshi Shukla
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19 Feb 2019
