Jethmalani writes scathing letter to Arun Jaitley on black money

mangaloretoday.com/ India Today

New Delhi, Oct 24: Senior Supreme Court lawyer and former BJP leader Ram Jethmalani on Thursday wrote a scathing letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on black money, accusing him of taking an "ill-advised" stand on the issue in the apex court.

Accusing Jaitley of not doing enough as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and later misleading the Supreme Court as Finance Minister, the senior lawyer, who is also the main petitioner in the black money case, said, "I strongly suspect that your conduct shows that you too like many others do not want the truth to come out." Full text of the letter

 

"Your action in approaching the Supreme Court with the kind of petition that you have filed is one of the most ill advised (sic) steps taken," Jethmalani writes in his letter to Jaitley.

Last week, the government filed an application in Supreme Court, expressing its inability to reveal the names of Indians holding illegal foreign bank accounts because of the bilateral double taxation avoidance treaties or DTAT.

In his letter, Jethmalani rejects the Centre’s application, saying it is using it as a fig leaf. "The Germans never spoke of the DTAT. Our people deliberately brought it in as a certain method of rendering the entire investigation futile and making our corrupt rulers escape arrest and prosecution," he writes.

In April this year, a list of Indians with bank accounts in Liechtenstein was given to the Supreme Court. However, both the then UPA and now the NDA governments said the names cannot be revealed because of the DTAT.

"I am sorry to write this to you on Deepawali," the three-page letter begins, later going into the details of the black money case. Towards the end, Jethmalani writes, "You recently had a near brush with death. This should have created in you a change in your moral make up and devotion to the nation. You are destroying what Modiji has built during his last election campaign."

In its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had promised to bring back the black money alleged stashed in foreign banks.

When asked about the letter, Ram Jethmalani on Friday told reporters that he did it as a citizen of India. "I don’t care about the BJP. I care about the people of India, it is your money," he said.

What did the Congress’s P Chidambaram say on black money?

Jethmalani’s sharp reactions on the black money row came shortly after the Congress said it will not be embarrassed if a name belonging to the party figures in the list of Indians holding illegal foreign bank accounts, calling it an "individual transgression".

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had warned the Congress of embarrassment when the list of Indians hoarding black money in other countries is revealed.

"Whatever name is there will embarrass the individual, the party won’t be. These are individual transgressions," Jaitley’s predecessor as Union Finance Minister and senior Congress spokesperson, P Chidambaram, told a TV channel on Friday.

The Centre’s application in the Supreme Court created a massive controversy, with opposition parties led by the Congress accusing the Modi government of doublespeak in the black money issue. Calling it a u-turn by the NDA government, the Congress asked Jaitley to stop blackmailing the party and dared him to release the list.