627 names of black money account holders submitted in Supreme Court

mangaloretoday.com/ NDTV

New Delhi, Oct 29: The Centre on Wednesday named of 627 Indians holding illegal bank accounts abroad in a sealed envelope to the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday had rapped the government for not revealing all the information in the case. 

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted three sets of lists with 627 names of people stashing untaxed or black money to the apex court.

The first list contains the details of treaties and agreements India has signed with Swtizerland and other nations where the illegal money is supposed to be stashed. The second list has all the names while the third list has a status report on the investigation in the case.

Earlier on Wednesday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre is not interested in protecting anybody and will follow the court orders.

"The government is not interested in protecting anybody. We will obey the court orders," Singh said.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked for all the names in a sealed envelope, a day after the government named eight people being prosecuted for stashing untaxed money in illegal bank accounts in other countries. Sources say there are at least 800 Indians holding such accounts in foreign nations.

"The new regime cannot come and tell us to modify our orders. We will not clarify or modify our 2011 order," the apex court said, adding, "The government’s only role is to request for information on black money accounts from foreign banks."

In 2011, the Supreme Court, which has been monitoring the investigations into black money since 2009, had asked for complete disclosure of information on Indians holding black money abroad.

The Supreme Court diktat came a day after the Centre on Monday revealed eight names, which included consumer products giant Dabur India promoter Pradip Burman, Rajkot-based bullion trader Pankaj Chamanlal Lodhiya, Goa mining company Timblo Private Ltd and five of its directors - Radha Satish Timblo, Chetan S Timblo, Rohan S Timblo, Anna C Timblo and Mallika R Timblo.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer and the main petitioner in the black money case, Ram Jethmalani, slammed the Centre over the revelations, saying the big fish involved in the case have not been revealed. "It is a case of mountain in labour producing a mouse," he had said.
 
 Courtesy: Indiatoday