LAHORE: Najam Sethi, editor of The Friday Times, has accused government of using income tax department to intimidate and harass him and his wife Jugnu Mohsin for their outspoken views.
“After the failure to make concocted charges leveled against me in the Supreme Court, the government has now resorted to dirty tactic of using income tax department to harass me,” he said. “This shows the real reason of arresting me last month,” he said. Sethi said since his detention last month, he, his wife Jugnu Mohsin, TFT and his publishing company ‘Vanguard Books Pvt. Ltd.’ had suddenly been slapped with over two dozen notices by the income tax department. “Since June 1, Jugnu Mohsin’s bank accounts have been frozen illegally and money transferred to the income tax department illegally,” he added.
“For instance, the ITO issued a wealth tax demand notice on June 2, 1999 relating to 1991-96 and ordered Jugnu to pay the amount by June 7, 1999 and submit proof by June 9, 1999. But, before Jugnu could file her response by June 9, 1999, the ITO issued ‘attachment’ notices to the banks on June 1, 1999, which is even before the date of the first demand notice. This shows the malafide nature of the notices.” In addition, the ITO attached the residential house of Jugnu Mohsin on June 8, 1999, which was one day before the due date of reply, and compliance.
Jugnu Mohsin has, therefore, sent a legal notice to the ITO pointing out his illegal actions and claimed damages of Rs. 10 million from him.
Meanwhile, the High Court on June 10, 1999 granted a stay order on Jugnu’s writ petition alleging illegality on the part of the ITO regarding her wealth tax assessment and various illegal attachment notices.
Similarly, the ITO without assigning proper reasons has reopened the settled income tax cases of both Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin for 1995 and 1996, the statement adds.
The ITO has also ‘attached’ the house of Najam Sethi’s family.
“The IT department told us that our files were taken to Islamabad on the orders of the higher authorities and senior tax officials were ordered to initiate proceedings against us on at least two occasions since my arrest,” Sethi said.
“I have obtained details of who went to Islamabad with our files and ordered IT officials to initiate illegal action,” claimed Sethi. He said he was consulting his lawyers. “I am confident that High Court would give us justice,” he said. PR
Source: The News
Date:6/11/1999
