The high-profile case of alleged tax evasion and money laundering against Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan is turning out to be a damp squib as the government is said to have come to a conclusion that probe agencies do not have enough evidence to nail him on the charge of having stashed away a huge amount of black money abroad.
Adding to the government's problem is the non-cooperation from Swiss authorities on purported details of transactions of some bank accounts of Khan.
The government, as per evidence collected so far, is said to be of the opinion that the material against him is "not tenable" in the court of law, sources said.
The 60-year-old businessman, who is under arrest, came under scrutiny from multiple agencies under the Department of Revenue (DoR) and the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police in 2007 which had been probing him and his associates for various charges of money laundering, income tax evasion and violations of the Passport Act for the last seven years.
Khan was slapped with an Income Tax notice demanding taxes over Rs 50,000 crore, which also seems to be crashing like a pack of cards as there is no credible evidence with the tax authorities to further press their charges and ensure his conviction.
Officials attributed the failure of the case to various factors including non-cooperation from international authorities, small value of available assets and non-availability of fresh evidence against the businessman.
"We have been advised by the government's law department that whatever evidence we have against Khan and his associates till now is not tenable. There is bleak chance of probe agencies getting any more evidence in this case which came to light in 2007," a senior official privy to the case said.
