Black money info cannot be disclosed

17102014

The menace of black money is still unresolved tangle with Centre told the SC its technicalities of not disclosing the name of  holders of black money  cannot be made public on taxation ground the matter appears to bring more people perception of governance to be low ebb as the lobby of the BM holders is too influential.

The Centre  said that the foreign countries have objected to disclosing such information and if such details are revealed then no other country would sign such an agreement with India.

Appearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the issue and pleaded for an urgent hearing.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani on whose plea the apex court had constituted Special Investigating Team (SIT) on black money, strongly objected to the stand taken by the Centre and said that matter be not heard.

“Matter should not be entertained even for a day. Such application should have been made by the culprits and not by the government,” Jethmalani said, adding that Centre is trying to protect the people who have stashed black money in foreign banks.

Jethmalani said that he has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue and his response is awaited.

The apex court had constituted the SIT headed by its former judge M B Shah on a plea of Jethmalani, who had moved the court for the purpose of getting black money back to the country.

Centre told the Supreme Court that information on black money given by foreign countries with which India has double taxation avoidance agreement cannot be disclosed. The government said that the names cannot be made public as it violates the double taxation avoidance agreement. It said, the names can only be shared with concerned agencies. The apex court has agreed to hear the government’s plea on 28th of this month.

On 15th of this month, Switzerland agreed to assist Indian authorities on a priority basis and provide requested banking information in a time-bound manner. The Swiss authorities will also assist in obtaining confirmation on genuineness of bank documents on request by the Indian side and also swiftly provide information on requests related to non-banking information.

Indian and Swiss governments have been in talks for the past few years on the matter of alleged black money parked by Indian citizens in banks in Switzerland, but there have been no major breakthrough despite having a bilateral treaty in this regard.

In July, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had informed Parliament that Switzerland had raised some legal issues with regard to providing details of Indian citizens who had parked illegal funds in Swiss banks. Asserting that the government was making all efforts to get details of such accounts, Mr Jaitley had also said it was collecting evidence in this regard.

A Special Investigation Team, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice M B Shah, is looking into the menace of black money.