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2017 (11) TMI 1850 - AT - Income TaxReopening the assessment u/s. 147 - Unexplained deposits - HELD THAT:- The assessee’s claim that the said deposits do not belong to the assessee or they have no information about the same has already been decided against the assessee by the tribunal in the order as above. We find that in the present case, from the employee of the said foreign bank, sovereign government of Germany comes into possession of documents relating to the deposit in the said bank. These deposit and detail give the name and address, date of birth, passport copy and all relevant particulars of the assessee. Then the sovereign government of Germany passes on this information to the sovereign government of India. Thereafter, the said document and information comes into the possession of Central Board of Direct Taxes and, thereafter, to the assessing officer. In this scenario, the assessee claim that the assessee has no information about the said bank deposit is totally unsustainable. Assessee’s name and address, date of birth, passport copy and other particulars were planted in those documents to the prejudice of the assessee by some unknown person is totally an unbelievable story. That some good Samaritan deposited that huge amount for the benefit of the assessee in the said foreign bank account and gave all the names and address and particulars of the assessee without any information to the assessee, is equally an unbelievable story. We do not find any relevance in ld. Counsel of the assessee’s submission that the data were stolen by the foreign bank employee and it was not the case of a whistle blower. How this affects the veracity of information has not been spelt out. The above evidence is cogent and sufficient. Furthermore, we note that in terms of the extant secrecy provisions of liechestein, no further information from the said bank can be obtained by the A.O. The assessee is clearly trying to get benefit under this provision and denying the existence of the said bank account. This as per the facts discussed hereinabove is a self serving statement not at all sustainable. In the background of the above discussion, the onus now is clearly on the assessee to prove that the assessee has no beneficial interest in the said bank account or that the said bank account is a fictitious story, which the assessee has failed to discharge. Hence, the impugned additions in the hands of the assessee are justified and uphold the same. As regards reference of the learned counsel of the assessee for the tax treatment of the discretionary trust is concerned, it is noted that the said trust is in Liechestein, the tax laws of government of India do not apply. Hence, reference to cases which are in the Indian context are not at all applicable. Some of the salient features of trust in liechestein are already mentioned in the above said tribunal order.The assessee to apply Indian case laws to trust that are governed by law of Liechestein is bereft of cogency. The assessee’s reference that data regarding bank balance is as on 31.12.2001 does not oxygenate the case of the assessee. The A.Y. 2002-03 very much encompasses the same. The reference by ld. Counsel of the assessee for A.O. mentioning sometimes US Dollars and sometimes Euro as currency is also not relevant as some error in mentioning the name of the currency in transcontinental, transfer of information regarding surreptitious bank holdings is not fatal.
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