TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (4) TMI 530
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....on 3 (c) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) vide the Impugned Order. This Tribunal while disposing of the Applications for the waiver of the pre-deposit of penalty amount vide Order dated 11.07.2024 granted full waiver to the Appellant Shri Mohd. Rafiq and vide Order dated 20.03.2024 directed the Appellant Shri Hukam Singh Soni to deposit FDR of the amount Rs.3,00,000/- in the name of the Enforcement Directorate, with the Respondent Directorate. 2. Ld. Counsel for the Appellants contended that the Impugned Order is illegal, arbitrary and unjustified. The conclusions drawn in the Impugned Order are erroneous. The Show Cause Notice (SCN) was issued after a gap of five years of the first summon issued to the Appellant Shri Hukam Chand Soni. Ld. Counsel alleged that the statements of the Appellants and others were recorded under coercion. The Appellant Shri Mohd. Rafiq had immediately retracted through his registered letter dated 08.04.2005 addressed to the Directorate of Enforcement. Ld. Counsel further stated that the Appellant Shri Hukam Chand Soni in his statement dated 03.09.2010 which was recorded after almost five years of the search had clarified that in the....
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....ppellants and those by other persons against them can be admitted as evidence, in the face of the retractions made by them subsequently. In this regard, we cite the following Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Vinod Solanki vs. Union of India [(2008) 16 SCC 537] which has laid down the situations where the retracted statement of the Appellants can be relied upon. In the Judgement (Supra) following has been observed in paragraph 23: "23. It is trite law that evidence brought on record by way of confession which stood retracted must be substantially corroborated by other independent and cogent evidence, which would lend adequate assurance to the court that it may seek to rely thereupon. We are not oblivious of some decisions of this Court wherein reliance has been placed for supporting such contention but we must also notice that in some of the cases retracted confession has been used as a piece of corroborative evidence and not as the evidence on the basis whereof alone a judgment of conviction and sentence has been recorded." Further, in K. T. M. S. Mohamed vs. Union of India [(1992) 3 SCC 178] the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that merely because stateme....
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....been found on record. It is true that two statements of the Noticee were recorded on same date, first at Churu and second at Jaipur. I have found that search proceedings were concluded in the afternoon of 07.04.2005 and there is no big distance from Jaipur to Churu to reach on the same day. Further, the Noticee has tendered one statement in his handwriting at Churu and another statement was written by an official of ED, I have observed that his first statement was recorded at Churu and it was very precise statement. His second statement at Jaipur was a detailed statement which was written by an official of ED. In this connection, I have seen statement dated 15.03.2010 of Shri Mohd. Arif, in which he has stated that, Mohd. Rafiq could not write properly as he had got electrical shock. The contention of advocate that the said statement has not attested by the writer of statement that the statement is verbatim of Noticee, hence cannot be relied upon. I have found that the writer of the statement has not attested the statement but the Noticee himself has verified the said statement. Hence there is no reason for non-relying of the said statement. I have also seen that the Notic....
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.... Detailed table of the distributed hawala money by him has also been prepared by the complainant. These charges are supported by documentary evidences seized during search operation process which have been corroborated by different persons whose statements were recorded. On the basis of that, I find that submission of advocate that charges are vague and the same have not been discussed, are not correct. The advocate has also submitted that the complainant has not bothered to investigate about the source of procuring foreign exchange and did not find out the persons of Delhi from whom the noticees have procured hawala money. I find that roles of different noticees in this international hawala operation is clearly established supported with statements of different persons and documentary evidences seized during search operations. Therefore, this submission is not relevant as far as contravention of provisions of FEMA, 1999 by the Noticee is concerned." 7. It is pertinent to mention that the Court cases with citations mentioned by the Ld. Counsel for the Appellants have already been considered by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority and accordingly disposed of. We have already m....