In election season, this is sure to provide fodder to the Congress’ opponents. The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down hard on the Centre for failing to disclose details of Indians having black money in foreign banks and termed it a “gross contempt of court”. Acting tough, the court set a one-week deadline for the Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance to explain the reasons for keeping its 2011 order in “cold storage” all these years.
“On July 4, 2011, we passed the order. Three years have passed and you have not complied with it. This is nothing but gross contempt of this court’s direction,” the Bench of Justices Hl Dattu, Ranjana P Desai and Madan B lokur said.The BJP has been putting the Congress on the back foot on the issue and has, in its election mainfesto, even promised to set up a task force to track down and bring back the illegal money stashed in foreign banks.
In the court, the Government did get a chance to explain but that only complicated the matter. Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran told the court that the Centre understood the four directions contained in the order to be read “conjunctly”. He was responding to an application moved by the petitioner in the case, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, seeking contempt proceedings against the Centre.
SC pulls up Centre for non-compliance in black money case
The first three directions required the Government to part with information and documents received from Germany, particularly details of Indians having accounts in liechtenstein Bank, where an initial probe had concluded some wrongdoing or where investigation was partly complete. There was a fourth direction too by which a special investigation team (SIT) headed by a former Supreme Court judge was to monitor criminal cases pending or initiated against persons engaged in black money transactions.
Parasaran suggested that the SIT could not be constituted as the judge in question, Justice BP Jeevan Reddy did not accept the offer. He showed to the Court a letter by Justice Reddy written on August 15, 2011 and again on April 18, 2014 declining to head the SIT.Perplexed at the timing of the letter, the bench asked, “How did this letter surface nowIJ” All these years there was no whisper about any such communication.
It also found it hard to believe that the Centre linked formation of SIT with the remaining three directions. “The language of the Court order is crystal clear. We asked you to forthwith supply information to the petitioner. It has nothing to do with constitution of SIT.”Parasaran sought time till Tuesday to take instructions as the Bench insisted, “Get appropriate information from your Revenue Secretary on what prevented them (Centre) from carrying out directions 1 to 3. From July 4, 2011 your order is kept in cold storage.”
Jethmalani informed the court that the Centre was hesitant to share the required information as some of the names, who have black money accounts, are contesting the elections. The court, while fixing the matter for Tuesday, even asked the Centre and Jethmalani to agree on a name of a former SC judge to head the SIT. The court felt the urgency to constitute an SIT after Parasaran brought to the notice of the court that the Enforcement Directorate, while tailing on the black money trail of a Pune stud-farm owner Hasan Ali and his associates, were informed by the Swiss authorities that the documents seized from Ali were fake.
“We have got information from the Swiss Government that all documents were fake and that he has only 60,000 US$ in his Swiss accounts,” Parasaran said. Documents seized by the ED had revealed Ali’s wealth in Swiss banks at the tune of 8 billion US$. The ED also discovered money being transacted from his account to facilitate arms deals with notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashogi, whose name figured in the Bofors scam probe.
The apex court, while constituting the SIT to monitor cases of black money transactions, including that of Hasan Ali, invested it with powers of investigation and prosecution by adding as members former SC judge Justice MB Shah, Secretary, Revenue Department, Deputy Governor of RBI, Intelligence Bureau Director, Director Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), CBI Director, chairman CBDT, DG of Narcotics Control Bureau and Revenue Intelligence, Director of Financial Intelligence Unit and Joint Secretary CBDT.