The Congress has not been able to get any kind of stay from the various judicial bodies in the Income Tax matter because the I-T department has produced detailed and corroborated evidence in courts that is on record to say the party received cash to the extent of Rs 626 crore between 2013 and 2019, sources have told media.

Congress on Friday said it has been served demand notices worth Rs 1,823 crore, with three more demand notices on the way. Sources say the total demand of I-T from the Congress could stretch to over Rs 2,500 crore. Sources said this is a result of Income Tax searches in April 2019 that showed cash receipts by Congress from Megha Engineering and a company said to be close to aides of Kamal Nath. The total receipts in cash spread over several years (2013-14 to April 2019) was to the extent of Rs 626 crore, sources explained.

“While the cash receipts from Megha Engineering were for contracts awarded, the cash from Kamal Nath’s aides was from a large alleged corruption scam run in Madhya Pradesh which involved collection of bribes from a number of people including senior bureaucrats, ministers, businessmen, etc. These cash receipts have been established and corroborated in multiple ways like documents found during search, WhatsApp messages and statements recorded,” sources told News18. The evidence mentions a specific payment of Rs 20 crore from Kamal Nath’s official residence to AICC office.

Under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, income received by a political party is exempt if a number of conditions are met — this includes not accepting any amount more than Rs 2,000 by cash.

Sources say in the Congress party’s case, these conditions were not met and as a result, the party lost exemption from paying tax and became liable to pay tax on its entire income, including from accounted sources. “This is in accordance with the provisions of Section 13A which is applicable to all political parties,” sources said.

The timing of the order is such because the assessment was time barring on March 31, 2024, and had to be completed by date, sources added.

“If Congress party thinks it is innocent, it is challenged to release the entire assessment order to the public. The contents would be damning to say the least,” sources have told media.

Source: News18