Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned BJP leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his son Raninder Singh in connection with a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation case of 2016.
The father-son duo has been accused of being the beneficiaries of certain foreign assets, including a Swiss bank account.
While Capt Amarinder Singh has been asked to appear before the ED at its Jalandhar office on Thursday, his son will be appearing on Thursday.
Capt Amarinder Singh, however, is unlikely to appear before the ED as he underwent a knee replacement surgery this week in a private hospital in Mohali.
His son Raninder Singh in a post on X: “As law-abiding citizens, we will cooperate fully with every investigation agency. We have absolute faith in the rule of law and are confident that truth and justice will prevail.”
The case dates back to 2016, when Amarinder Singh was in the Congress. His son was summoned by the ED on October 23, 2020, too, at its Jalandhar office to explain the alleged movement of funds to Switzerland and creation of a trust in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.
The Income Tax Department had filed a charge sheet against the father-son duo in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Ludhiana in 2016. It accused Raninder Singh of being the beneficiary of foreign assets maintained and controlled through foreign business entities.
The I-T Department had also alleged that he was the beneficiary of foreign bank accounts maintained with the HSBC Private Bank (SUISSE) SA, Geneva, Switzerland.
It had said that Raninder Singh misguided the agency by claiming that he did not have documents related to his family’s income and trusts abroad. The documents revealed that Raninder Singh was a ‘settler’ of Jacaranda Trust, formed in July 2005 in the British Virgin Islands between him and HSBC Trust Company Limited, acting as a trustee.
The father-son duo had filed an appeal against the Ludhiana court order before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, stating that the income tax records contain “secret” information given by the French Republic to the Government of India, and there was a “specific bar” on providing any such information to a stranger under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between the two countries.
In September 2025, the high court upheld the order of the additional district judge, saying it was “well-reasoned” and did not suffer from any infirmity or error of law.
(IANS)
