Patna, Sept. 14: The income-tax department has submitted a 136-page report declaring a property in New Delhi owned by RJD chief Lalu Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as benami.
The department has also expressed dissatisfaction over Tejashwi's answers to its officials' queries over the property at D-1088, New Friends Colony, New Delhi. 'He did not reply to most of the questions and simply stated of not remembering any details (memory loss),' the department said in the report, a copy of which is with The Telegraph.
Income-tax officials had interrogated Tejashwi on August 29 over the property, which is owned by AB Exports Pvt Ltd. Tejashwi owns 98 per cent of the shares of the firm.
The report points out that Section 2 of the Benami Transactions Prohibition Act, 1988, defines a benami transaction as any transaction in which property is transferred to one person for a consideration paid or provided by another person. The Delhi property was purchased in the name of AB Exports Pvt Limited, but through transfer of Rs 5 crore by five different companies based in Mumbai. 'Even the source of money these shell companies has been traced to a sham transaction,' the department said.
It said after interrogation of the company's directors it was found out that they were hardly persons of any means and had showed tax returns of Rs 3 lakh per annum or less.
'The property in question was then transferred to the beneficial owners through transfer of shares in F.Y 2010-11... at... Rs 4 lakh and the property worth crores was transferred to the ultimate beneficiaries. Therefore, the above transaction squarely falls within the scope and definition of Section 2(9) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.'
The department also found that AB Exports is not engaged in any kind of business activity. The sole asset held by the company is the property in New Friend's Colony.