Saif to pay 90 lakh fine on 30 lakh car

It appears Saif Ali Khan's approach of trying to save a little money has gone horribly wrong. The star, who had paid Rs 30 lakh for a car from a Dubai-based dealer, will now have to shell out three times the amount as fine.

Taxing issue: Saif Ali Khan takes part in Delhi Police's traffic awareness campaign. ED officials say Khan's attempt to save Rs 30,000 will now prove very costly to him. File pic

On Saturday, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials grilled Saif for more than four hours in the eight-year-old car importing case. In 2004, Saif had allegedly imported a Toyota Land Cruiser from Dubai using the name and address of a Kerala resident by the name of Mohammed Kolangara.

However, Customs officials suspected that Kolangara could not afford an expensive car such as the Land Cruiser and during investigations, it was revealed that Khan had paid Rs 30 lakh to a dealer in Dubai through a hawala channel. Later, the matter was forwarded to ED.

According to an ED official, if Saif had paid the Rs 30 lakh in white, he would then have to spend only Rs 30,000 as income tax. However, in the attempt to save Rs 30,000, he will now have to spend Rs 90 lakh. "In the hope to save Rs 30,000, Saif will now be spending Rs 90 lakh to the ED, which includes the penalty as well as the tax amount," said the ED official.

According to the rules by the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), if the allegation is proven to be true, Saif will have to pay a minimum 100 times of the tax.

"We recorded Khan's statement. We questioned how he had paid the money in Dubai," said the official.

When MiD DAY contacted Saif, he said, "Already a lot of things have been published in the media. What is new with you? I am not interested in your questions."