The Government on Wednesday strongly defended its steps to bring back black money stashed abroad and said it was not shying away from disclosing the names of those account holders, but is only waiting for the right time.
The Government also informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that as many as 250 foreign account holders from HSBC’s list of Indians have admitted possessing black money.
“The issue is not whether to disclose names of black money account holders but when to disclose them,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, while replying to a short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the black money stashed away in foreign bank accounts by Indian citizens and business entities in violation of law.
The Minister said that the Government should refrain from such an ‘adventurism’ and ‘populist’ measure of disclosing names since investigations are going on and evidence is being collected to nail those involved. According to Jaitley, out of the list of 625 given by HSBC Bank, identity of 427 has been established and they have been called for further enquiry and assessment.
Among the 427 names, 250 have admitted the fact of having black money, he said, adding prosecutions are going to be filed in the coming weeks against those figuring in the HSBC list suspected to have illicit accounts there.
The Minister argued that making their names public now would not only lead to these people removing all evidence, but also prevent other banks from disclosing any names to India for violating the ‘Confidentiality Clause’ signed under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with several countries.
He said the Government is also bound by a DTAA, for which there is a Confidentiality Clause that prevents any name from being made public unless in a court proceeding related to tax frauds. The Minister said that the Government can reveal names only after it sends these names for prosecution at the end of enquiry.
“The Government has to follow a prescribed procedure. We cannot give names without evidence. That will be in violation of the DTAA and also right to privacy. But let me assure that we are on the right track and once assessment is complete and names are sent to court, such names will be made public,” Jaitley said.
“Everyone wants the black money to come back, legal action initiated against the people and fill the gaps in our system to prevent future money laundering. I can assure you that our capacity building to deal with the issue is improving. The Government will pro-actively chase those having black money and will not rest till the last account is identified,” Jaitley said. The Minister also listed out NDA Government’s efforts in sorting out the issue on a multilateral forum like the G-20 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for agreements.
“We are on a learning curve. The Government is going to be on the right track even if it takes extra time,” the Finance Minister argued and suggested that the Government was even willing to change laws if required to bring back black money.
Replying to Opposition criticism, Jaitley said his Government has done more in 100 days than what other Governments had done in years. He listed out Cabinet decisions for setting up the Special Investigating Team in this regard as one of the first decisions by Modi’s Government, something which had been pending since July 2011.
However, his reply did not satisfy the Opposition, which was seeking a response of the Government on its poll promises of getting black money back within 100 days of taking over. The Opposition-led by the Congress staged a walkout since it also wanted to know the exact amount stashed abroad. Congress MP Anand Sharma and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav claimed Narendra Modi in his pre-election campaign had said that the amount was something around Rs 85 lakh crore. The Opposition argued that since the entire poll was contested on the argument of black money it was important for Government to inform the steps taken in this regard.