Washington: Federal prosecutors have charged Indian-American neurosurgeon Arvind Ahuja, a client of HSBC, with evading US taxes through the global bank`s India operations and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Ahuja from Wiscosin was previously indicted in June 2011
on four counts of willfully filing materially false tax
returns and four counts of failing to file Reports of Foreign
Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs).
The superseding indictment was returned yesterday in Milwaukee. A trial date has not yet been set.
The indictment is part of a broadening US investigation
into Swiss and Swiss-style banks that enable American clients
to hide income offshore and evade US taxes.
According to the superseding indictment, Dr Ahuja, a
board-certified neurosurgeon, wire transferred and maintained
millions of dollars in bank accounts in India and the
Bailiwick of Jersey at The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Ltd. (HSBC).
In 2009, the HSBC bank account in India had a balance of
USD 8,733,785.
The superseding indictment alleges that Dr Ahuja failed
to report these bank accounts to the IRS on his 2006-2009 tax
returns.
The indictment alleges that he failed to report more than
USD 1.2 million in interest income that he earned from his
HSBC India account and failed to pay the taxes due on that
income.
For the 2006-2009 tax years, Dr Ahuja also failed to file
FBARs to report his foreign bank accounts to the Department of
the Treasury.
PTI
