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Black money issue rocks parliament

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india-parliament

New Delhi: The issue of black money rocked the Lok Sabha on the first working day of parliament’s winter session Tuesday, as several opposition parties tried to corner the government over the issue.

As soon as the house met for the day, Trinamool Congress (TMC) members went near the speaker’s podium with black umbrellas raising slogans on black money.

They were joined by members from Janata Dal-United, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Samajwadi Party who also raised slogans demanding a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to when the black money would be brought back.

When Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not agree to this, they moved near the speaker’s podium carrying black umbrellas with “Kaala Dhan Waapas Lao” (Bring back black money) written on them, forcing her to adjourn the house till noon.

When the house met again at noon, work resumed amid din. While opposition members continued to raise slogans, papers were presented and even matters of urgent public importance were taken up by the house.

TMC members were also seen raising slogans in the Rajya Sabha. A notice for suspension of the question hour to take up the debate on black money was also given in the upper house.

Earlier, TMC members were seen staging a protest outside parliament. They were joined in the protest by SP, JD-U and RJD leaders.

“Modi government promised to bring back black money in 100 days, almost 200 days are over, they must give an answer now,” said TMC’s Sukhendu Sekhar.

“Black money was one of the key poll planks in the Lok Sabha elections on which the BJP won, but the government has done nothing on this count since it came to power. We want a threadbare discussion on this,” JD-U leader K.C. Tyagi, who gave the notice for discussion to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on his party’s behalf.

(IANS)

Black money: List of around 627 people submitted to SC

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BLACK-MONEY

New Delhi: The Centre government on Wednesday submitted a list of 627 Indians having accounts in foreign banks in a sealed envelope to Supreme Court, which on Tuesday had pounded the government for not revealing all the information in the case.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted three sets of lists with the 627 names of people stashing untaxed or black money to the apex court, which fixed March 31, 2015 as the deadline to conclude the investigation into the case.

Rohatgi said more than half of the people in the list are Indian nationals while the rest are Non-Resident Indians. He said that most people named in the list, which was last updated in 2006, have their accounts with the HSBC Bank.

The apex court refused to open the envelope and directed to place documents before the Special Investigative team (SIT).

Only SIT chairman and vice chairman can open the sealed envelope containing names of account holders, said the SC.

The Supreme Court also directed the government to share the list with the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The case will be next heard on December 3 after the SIT submits its status report by November 30.

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

Rejecting its stand, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Centre to disclose all the names of black money holders abroad to it in a sealed envelope and slammed it for reluctance on the issue.

The apex court had some strong words for the new government for seeking modification of its earlier order on disclosure of all names saying this was accepted by the then UPA government.

“Why are you trying to protect people having bank accounts in foreign countries. Why are you providing a protective umbrella for all these people.

On Monday, the Centre revealed eight names of Indians holding illegal foreign bank accounts, 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.

Black money: AAP attacks government over selective names

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File Photo

File Photo

New Delhi: The AAP Monday accused the central government of being “selective” in revealing names of foreign bank account holders, asking it to make public all those with money stashed abroad.

Addressing a press conference here, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said the government was not disclosing all the names because they knew the list contained the “names of those who are close to the Bharatiya Janata Party”.

In its affidavit to the Supreme Court, the government revealed the names of three individuals – Pradip Burman, director of the Burman Group, Pankaj Chimanlal Lodya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd – while alleging they had funds in bank accounts abroad over which proceedings had been initiated for tax evasion.

Kejriwal said: “On Nov 9, 2012, we had disclosed the statements made by three individuals – namely Parminder Singh Kalra, Vikram Dhirani and Praveen Sawhney – before Income Tax authorities, when their premises were raided.”

He asked: “These three individuals admitted to the offence. Surprisingly, their names do not appear in the list of three people whose names have been disclosed by the finance ministry today. Why?”

He added: “Today, the BJP government has disclosed three names, one of which happens to be Pradeep Burman. This name was there in the list disclosed by us two years back and hence, it further validates our earlier disclosure.”

Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan had addressed a press conference on 9th November 2012, in which it was disclosed that the following names feature in this list:

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, Motech Software Private Ltd (Reliance Group company), Reliance Industries Ltd, Sandeep Tandon, Anu Tandon, Kokila Dhirubhai Ambani, Naresh Kumar Goyal, Burmans (3 family members), Yashovardhan Birla.

Centre names 3 black money account holders in affidavit to SC

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The court also said that information about the alleged accused or his whereabouts by the informant will be recorded in writing or in electronic form.

New Delhi: The Union government has named three persons who are black money account holders in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, TV reports said.

According to television reports on Monday, the three persons named are Pradip Burman, director of the Burman Group, Pankaj Chimanlal Lodya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd.

The television reports also indicated that four members of the Congress party, including a former minister of the previous UPA regime, are under investigation, and added that their names may be revealed after the probe is completed. Among the four Congress party members are two belonging to powerful political families in the state of Maharashtra, the television reports further stated.

Last week, it was revealed that the Centre was likely to tell the apex court the names of the people against whom strong evidence exists of stashing away black money in Swiss banks in a major step in its crackdown on India’s parallel economy.

On Monday, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi is reported to have submitted a supplementary affidavit in the apex court detailing plans to submit the list of names in a sealed envelope.

The court is due to continue hearings on a petition on black money the following day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is moving fast to repatriate hundreds of billions of dollars in slush funds or black money stashed abroad, as part of a wider clampdown on corruption that he promised during his election campaign.

The government is building pressure particularly on Switzerland, seeking details of Indians who have parked unaccounted for money in Switzerland’s highly secretive banks. It has quickly implemented a Supreme Court directive to set up a high-powered special investigation team, headed by retired judge M B Shah, to look into the issue.

While there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had parked USD 462 billion in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008.

Black money arises mainly from incomes not disclosed to the government usually to avoid taxation, and, sometimes, because of its criminal links. About a third of India’s black money transactions are believed to be in real estate, followed by manufacturing and shopping for gold and consumer goods.

Earlier, the BJP government had told the apex court that it could not disclose the names of those who have deposited money in banks abroad as it this would jeopardize tax agreements with nations providing those names to India.

There were murmurs of protest within the ruling BJP that not disclosing names would hurt the party’s image after it had made bringing back black money, a key issue in a general election that it won by a landslide. The Centre’s stand also drew a strong response from the Congress, which accused it of hypocrisy.

Turning the tables on the Congress, finance minister Arun Jaitley had recently said the disclosing of names of people holding black money accounts will embarrass the opposition party.

The Congress had hit back, daring the government to come out with complete information without indulging in “selective leaks” and pointing out that “the Congress is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat”.

(Agencies)

BJP backtracks on black money, Ram Jethmalani accuses it of shielding the corrupt

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jethmalani_modi

New Delhi: BJP did a volte face on the black money stashed away abroad by telling the SC that could not disclose the names of those who have deposited money in banks abroad, citing double taxation avoidance treaties with other countries.

It said that as per this law it cannot make public the names that were disclosed by foreign banks. The move has drawn flak from the opposition Congress party, which was criticised for taking the same position during the United Progressive Alliance regime. During its Lok Sabha poll campaign, the Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to recover undeclared money kept by Indians in overseas banks if elected to power.

Its stand was made in an application seeking modification of an earlier court order asking it to disclose the names all such people it had received from German government to the petitioner Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani.

Jethmalani who slammed the previous government said that the current government was trying to shield the rich and corrupt.

“Matter should not be entertained even for a day. Such an application could only be made by crooks who have illegally parked their ill-gotten money abroad and not by a democratically elected government,” Jethmalani said, adding that Centre is trying to protect the people who have stashed black money in foreign banks.

Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had salted away $462 billion (about Rs. 28 lakh crore in current exchange rates) in overseas tax havens between 1948-2008. A study by industry body Assocham says nearly $2 trillion or Rs. 120 lakh crore of Indian black money is stashed overseas. Assocham’s black money estimate is more than the country’s nominal GDP, which stood at Rs.114 lakh crore or $1.9 trillion in 2013-14. Jethmalani claims that around Rs 70 lakhcrore is stashed in foreign banks.

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

Interestingly, the apex court had earlier rejected the same stand taken by UPA government, observing that such DTAA does not prevent the Centre from disclosing the names of the persons having bank accounts in foreign banks.

The Congress, for its part, demanded an apology from Mr. Modi for misleading the nation. Accusing the BJP and Mr. Modi of “political dishonesty”, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the stand taken by the government in the Supreme Court earlier in the day was basically a repetition of what the former Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, had said in the past.

“At that time, he was shouted down by the BJP” and its supporters like Baba Ramdev and Kiran Bedi, Mr. Singhvi said. Why is one government’s inaction on black money alright while another government was ridiculed for it?”

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