2014 (9) TMI 678

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....wo grounds this appeal raises substantial questions of law. It is submitted that before the Tribunal a specific contention was raised that the proceedings were identical against the appellant and others, they deserved to be dropped against the appellant as the others were exonerated though termed as master mind, then, there was no justification for continuing the proceedings against the appellant and penalising him. The Tribunal, thus, completely erred in holding that the alleged real importer of the cars was exonerated in the first proceedings and therefore, the appellant cannot claim the benefit thereof in the present proceedings particularly when the Department had accepted the exoneration of master mind. 3. It is next submitted th....

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....and clear the vehicles. 5. Mr. Gandhi and Ashwin Kumar Tandon placed orders for import of vehicles on a company Inpub in Japan which company belonged to Mr. Satish Tandon, specifying the name of the passengers in whose names the invoices of the vehicle were to be done. The payment of the car was made by Mr. D.K. Jain. The foreign exchange requirement for customs duty was arranged to be transferred to the account of the passengers by Mr. Satish Tandon. Thereafter, those cars would be sold and the payment/purchase price would be sent to the company 'Inpub' through illegal channels. 6. The Commissioner passed the order in respect of two imported cars imported under the names of Vinod Chandra and Anand Giri by this syndicate and imp....

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....e do not find that the appellant can gain any advantage or derive any benefit from the exoneration of D.K. Jain. Equally this is not a case where the penalty has been imposed only by relying on the statement of co-noticee. There was independent corroboration and from the statement of passengers, the role of the company called Inpub and the documents based on which the entire import was rooted. In such circumstances, the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court cannot be of any assistance, that was rendered in a criminal appeal. The Hon'ble Supreme Court had before it the appeal and which was directed against the order of the High Court against the proceedings under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. Apart from the fact that the criminal ap....