Bombay High Court grants Anil Ambani interim protection from prosecution, penalty in Black Money Act case

3 min readMumbaiJun 10, 2026 01:55 PM IST

The I-T Department has accused Anil Ambani of wilful tax evasion and alleged he 'intentionally' hid his foreign bank account details and financial interests from Indian tax authorities. (File Photo)

The Bombay High Court on Monday granted interim protection from prosecution and penalty to industrialist Anil Ambani in an alleged tax evasion case, pending his writ petition challenging provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, commonly known as the Black Money Act.

A bench of Justices Burgess P Colabawalla and Firdosh P Pooniwalla was hearing Ambani’s plea filed in 2022 challenging the constitutional validity of provisions of the Act, alleging that they were in violation of fundamental rights under the Constitution.

Earlier, the high court, in an interim order, had restrained the Income-Tax (I-T) Department from taking coercive action against Ambani till further orders on notices issued over its allegation that the Reliance (ADA) Group chief evaded Rs 420 crore in taxes on Rs 814 crore held in two Swiss Bank accounts.

Ambani had challenged the validity of sections 3(1), 50, 51, 59, and 72C of the Black Money Act in the petitions concerned. The high court had then questioned the I-T Department as to how action could be taken in a retrospective manner against the petitioner.

The Justice Colabawalla-led bench was on Monday informed that the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Black Money Act had been challenged in other writ petitions as well, in which interim relief was granted to Ambani and the present plea be heard along with them.

The bench sought an affidavit in reply within four weeks from the central government to the present plea. It was informed that an assessment order (AO) had already been passed and Ambani had filed an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax-Appeals (CIT-A).

“The said appeal can proceed and orders can be passed thereon. However, we clarify that no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner, including that of prosecution and penalty, till the hearing and final disposal of this writ petition,” the high court noted while granting interim relief to Ambani.

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Alleging the detection of undeclared offshore assets and investments, the Mumbai unit of the I-T investigation wing had passed a final order in March 2022 against the industrialist under the Black Money Act, after notices were issued to him on a web of alleged undeclared offshore assets, the first in 2019.

The department’s order listed offshore entities and details of transactions in linked bank accounts, adding up to over Rs 800 crore (based on the then exchange rate).

The I-T Department accused Ambani of wilful tax evasion and alleged he had “intentionally” hidden his foreign bank account details and financial interests from Indian tax authorities. It claimed Ambani was liable to be prosecuted under sections 50 and 51 of the Black Money Act, which provided a maximum punishment of 10 years’ imprisonment with a fine.

However, Ambani had argued that he could not be prosecuted for the alleged transactions in 2006-07 and 2013 in a retrospective manner, because the Act was enforced in 2015. He termed the allegations “unsubstantiated, patently false and frivolous”.