Foreign-exchange contravention and abetment upheld where retracted statement was corroborated by seized documents and surrounding circumstances.

In foreign-exchange proceedings, a retracted statement may still sustain findings of contravention and abetment when independently corroborated by seized documents, recovered currency, and surrounding circumstances. The tribunal applied the standard of legal probability, noting that economic offences are proved by a prudent person's assessment rather than mathematical certainty. Challenges based on retraction, delay in issuing the show-cause notice, non-supply of documents, and alleged insufficiency of proof were rejected. The contraventions and abetment charge were therefore held proved, and the penalties were sustained.

---

---

Issues: Whether the contraventions of the foreign exchange restrictions and the charge of abetment were proved so as to justify confirmation of the penalties imposed under the order under challenge.

Analysis: The adjudicatory record showed recovery of incriminating documents and Indian currency, and the statement of the concerned noticee was relied upon as voluntary and corroborated by the seized material and surrounding circumstances. The challenge based on retraction, delay in issuance of the show-cause notice, non-supply of documents, and alleged insufficiency of proof was rejected. The reasoning proceeded on the basis that in economic offences legal proof is satisfied by a prudent person's assessment of probability, and that intentional assistance in the foreign-exchange dealings amounted to abetment.

Conclusion: The contraventions under the foreign exchange law and the abetment charge were held proved, and the penalties were sustained against the appellants.

Ratio Decidendi: A retracted statement, when independently corroborated by seized documents and surrounding circumstances, can validly sustain a finding of contravention and abetment in foreign-exchange proceedings, and proof is to be assessed on the basis of legal probability rather than mathematical certainty.

---