Black money in India

[nrupatunga]

Centre submits names of over 600 foreign bank A/C holders to SC

The Centre handed over the list with more than 600 names in a sealed cover to the court, which directed the government on Tuesday not to provide a "protective umbrella" to such persons.

The court, however, did not open the envelope and observed that it be placed before a special investigation team (SIT) probing the black money case. Only the SIT chairman and vice-chairman can open the sealed envelope, the court said.

Sternly rejecting the Centre's argument on Tuesday that revealing the identity of legal account holders would amount to breach of privacy, a special bench headed by Chief Justice of India HL Dattu said, "Don't give us your list... but the names given to you by France and Germany. If it breaches confidentiality, let it be."

The court also turned down the government's request that it modify its order seeking the names of all such account holders. The Centre had contended that the names should be revealed only after investigations proved the accounts indeed held black money and led to prosecution against tax evaders.

"Why are you taking the trouble to investigate? We have taken the responsibility to bring back the (black) money and we will decide the future course (of action)," the CJI said when attorney general Mukul Rohatgi argued that a modification was imperative as the court order was acting as a hindrance in signing future tax treaties.

The top law officer, who denied the government was shielding anybody, offered to give the names to the court-appointed special investigating team (SIT) after completion of the probe.

But the court retorted, "It (probe) will never happen during our time. You don't verify. Just pass (on) the information to us. We will ask the SIT or income tax department or probably the CBI to investigate"¦ Let SIT declare the accounts don't have a tinge of black money. If the money is hard-earned, nobody will insist it be brought back."

Bowing to the court's direction, Rohatgi later told HT, "There are over 600 names in the list - we will give the entire list in sealed cover to the court. I'm sure the court will take appropriate steps to maintain their confidentiality."

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the government had absolutely no difficulty in giving it (the list) to the court.

"... and the government shall place the list before the court because the government has already given it to the court-constituted SIT," Jaitley told the media.

"The government is keen that by whatever procedure in accordance with law, we must get to the root of the matter and the truth about these names as also these accounts must come out."

The court's direction came a day after the Centre filed an affidavit giving the names of seven individuals and a mining company who have allegedly stashed black money abroad and are facing prosecution for tax evasion under the Income Tax Act. The much-awaited first list did not include names of any politician.

Those named in the government affidavit were Pradip Burman of the Dabur group, Rajkot-based bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhya and directors of Goa-based mining company Timblo Private Limited - Radha Satish Timblo, Chetan S Timblo, Rohan S Timblo, Anna C Timblo and Mallika R Timblo. Timblo Private Limited, a firm identified by Association for Democratic Reforms as a donor to both the BJP and the Congress, was also named.

The court is hearing a public interest petition filed by former law minister Ram Jethmalani in 2009 seeking a direction to the Centre to bring back black money stashed by Indians abroad. Jethmalani had accused the government of attempting to shield powerful politicians and businessmen.

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has also filed an application requesting the court to hear him in the matter. Accusing the BJP of protecting such people, he also tweeted, "If BJP discloses all black money holders' names, then who will give them money to fight elections in some states and buy MLAs in others?"

The Congress, on its part, said the court order had exposed the Centre's "lame excuses" on disclosure of names and vindicated its stand that there should not be partial and selective leaks. "During the Lok Sabha election campaign, BJP leaders were declaring from the rooftops that black money stashed abroad would be brought back within 100 days. But when it came to declaring the names, they just released three," general secretary Ajay Maken said.

While there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had salted away $462 billion (about 28 lakh crore in current exchange rates) 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.

 

[iNDiAN.96]

why did the court need to order the govt to reveal all names if the all names were submited to sc monitored SIT?

That you should ask to SC that why they wants to submit the same names to SIT again.

 

[Bangalorean]

why did the court need to order the govt to reveal all names if the all names were submited to sc monitored SIT?

BJP has been a very proactive govt and it was elected by the people for this reson. they should show by actions that they have nothing to hide. they needed direction from SC to reveal all names; this does rise doubts against them.

Yo, what's wrong with your intelligence today?

They revealed ALL names to SIT, get that into your head. ALL names. SC unnecessarily made a scene and got all names from govt., and what did they do? They simply sent the names back to the SIT again!!! Who is doing drama here? I am afraid it is none other than the honourable SC. Media morons also, but they are expected to do drama.

So, what the ---- happened here? Govt. forms SIT to probe black money, very quickly and proactively. Govt. gives ALL names to SIT. Then the hyperactive SC creates drama and the lapdogs of the media morons gleefully yapped about "government hiding names". Govt. was forced to give names to SC, and the SC simply went and gave the names to the SIT, which already had the names to begin with. What a wonderful circle.

You claim to be someone who "criticizes wherever criticism is required". So why are you criticizing the govt. now? Do you have even one honest bone in your body?

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

BJP has been a very proactive govt and it was elected by the people for this reson. they should show by actions that they have nothing to hide. they needed direction from SC to reveal all names; this does rise doubts against them.

It seems those criticising BJP need to slap themselves. I am also included in this list.

But this episode made me realise that one should never believe these bast**ds in our MSM.

Government's list has no new details, we are back to square one in black money probe: SIT Chairman Shah

On a day when the Central Government submitted its list of black money account holders in foreign banks to the Supreme Court, head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case Justice MB Shah said that there is no new detail in the report that has been submitted by the government.

"I don't think there is anything significant in the report. The list is the same as before. It was known to us. We have to question the people in the list," Shah said adding that there is no new outcome of the investigations that have taken place in the past few days.

He also said that all the facts in the report were already known to the SIT. "All these facts that have been revealed were already known to the members of SIT. We should be able to file a satisfactory report in time," he added.

Government's list has no new details, we are back to square one in black money probe: SIT Chairman Shah

SIT Chairman MB Shah said that all details mentioned in the government's report are the same as submitted in June.

Shah asserted that the probe is underway and filing a report will take time. "The probe is a difficult one. there is no eye wash. The report will take time. We have already filed the first report in August. I'm hopeful that we should be able to file the final report by next year," he said.

He also backed the Centre by saying that he did not feel that the government was trying to protect anyone who is named in the list.

Earlier in the day, the Central government led by Narendra Modi submitted a list of names of 627 black money account holders to the Supreme Court. The court refused to open the sealed envelope saying that only the SIT Chairman and Vice Chairman can open the sealed envelope containing the names of account holders.

The list has names, account numbers and the amount of money in each account. The apex court has now directed the SIT to submit a status report by November 30.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that the list has been provided by the French government of those who have accounts in the HSBC Bank, Geneva. "The deadline for completion of all investigations into the black money cases is March 31, 2015," he said. The Attorney General added that the maximum people in the list are residents in India and rest are NRIs.

The court has also allowed the Centre to put forth its grievances regarding various treaties with foreign countries before the SIT.

The list comes a day after the Supreme Court pulled up the Centre and asked it to reveal names of all foreign account holders by Wednesday. The court had said that Special Investigation Team (SIT) will investigate black money and not the government.

Hitting out hard at the government, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday said, "You do not do anything. Just pass information of account holders to us and we will pass order for further probe. You do not have to take interest in people having foreign bank accounts, the Special Investigation Team will take care of it."

"We can't leave the issue of bringing back black money to government. It will never happen during our time. Why are you providing protective umbrella to foreign bank account holders," the court said.

 

[sob]

Trust Mr.Kejriwal and Co. to jump the gun again.

By being silent and seemingly on the defensive for the last couple of days, the Government has come out shining and the opposition and the media has egg on it's face. The name of Pradeep Burman has been in the open domain for a long time now- almost 3-4 years while Naresh Goel is an NRI with his company registered in Isle of Man (Tailwinds) which is a recognised Tax Shelter.
So if he has a Swiss Account then he is it out of the reach of GOI until they can prove that Jet Airways illegally stashed money out of India.

 

[Ashutosh Lokhande]

Yo, what's wrong with your intelligence today?

They revealed ALL names to SIT, get that into your head. ALL names. SC unnecessarily made a scene and got all names from govt., and what did they do? They simply sent the names back to the SIT again!!! Who is doing drama here? I am afraid it is none other than the honourable SC. Media morons also, but they are expected to do drama.

So, what the ---- happened here? Govt. forms SIT to probe black money, very quickly and proactively. Govt. gives ALL names to SIT. Then the hyperactive SC creates drama and the lapdogs of the media morons gleefully yapped about "government hiding names". Govt. was forced to give names to SC, and the SC simply went and gave the names to the SIT, which already had the names to begin with. What a wonderful circle.

You claim to be someone who "criticizes wherever criticism is required". So why are you criticizing the govt. now? Do you have even one honest bone in your body?

The claim of BJP supporters that "SIT already had names... Not a shame for Govt is a joke"
So why was Modi Sarkar so reluctant to give the names 'again' ?
Basically The supreme court judges went furious when Modi Sarkar approached them with request to change 2 year old order that 'all names should be told by Govt.'
So The enraged judges decided to corner government on black money probe.... as they righty said: "Aren't you ashamed... even UPA didn't asked us to change that order... it clearly seems that you are not interestd in catching black money holders... else you are shielding them.... You just give us names tommorow itself and we get them investigated...



I critisize whenever theres need to critisize. BJP still has many tainted(serious charges) and corrupt politicians in there party itself which continue to work in BJP and i dont think i need to prove you about my honesty.

It seems those criticising BJP need to slap themselves. I am also included in this list.

But this episode made me realise that one should never believe these bast**ds in our MSM.

Government's list has no new details, we are back to square one in black money probe: SIT Chairman Shah

 

[Bangalorean]

The claim of BJP supporters that "SIT already had names... Not a shame for Govt is a joke"
So why was Modi Sarkar so reluctant to give the names 'again' ?
Basically The supreme court judges went furious when Modi Sarkar approached them with request to change 2 year old order that 'all names should be told by Govt.'
So The enraged judges decided to corner government on black money probe.... as they righty said: "Aren't you ashamed... even UPA didn't asked us to change that order... it clearly seems that you are not interestd in catching black money holders... else you are shielding them.... You just give us names tommorow itself and we get them investigated...

I critisize whenever theres need to critisize and i dont think i need to prove you about my honesty.

No, you don't need to prove your honesty, you need to prove your intelligence now, the way this conversation is going.

According to you, SC said, "give us the names tomorrow and we get them investigated". So what the ---- happened after that? Is the SC getting them investigated? They just gave the names back to the SIT which was constituted by Modi sarkar itself, and the SIT has made it clear that they already had all the names with them. How can any moron say that the govt. was shielding the names, when all the names were already given? Can you answer? Even the SIT chief has said that there is no new name in the list and they already had all names, and they do not have any reason to suspect that the govt. is shielding anyone.

So why don't you tell me what new thing the SC has done? What was the value-add in the SC's actions? Answer the question, don't keep dodging. You appear to be another of those people who are simply not honest enough to admit when they have been proved wrong.

Now, neither will the SC take back its comments saying that govt. was "shielding" names, nor will the gutter MSM take back all their snide remarks, nor will people like you honestly admit that you made a mistake.

 

[skumar7777]

Hope this happens. All culprits must be punished.

S Gurumurthy raises many pertinent points having been part of the group set up by Vajpayee govt to probe black money.

'Modi will recover black money from abroad'

Good article. Disclaimer first - I have been a BJP supporter as would be clear from my past posts. On the issue of black money, I am disappointed with the government.

1. The government has done nothing to discourage the use of black money and round tripping. One simple measure pointed out so often is banning p-notes. NO ONE can prevent the government from taking that step immediately. Sure, the stock markets will crash but that is a small price that we should be willing to pay.
2. Prevent over invoicing of imports and under invoicing of exports. Prosecute and publicize few such cases.
3. In the maze of agencies that are pursuing this, it is evident that everyone is stepping on everyone else's toes. Like the war on drugs / bootlegging in the US, this has to be in mission mode led by fresh, committed, young folks and not the same babus who have been winking on the sides. Preferably led by someone like Subramanian Swamy. Here the Finance Minister also has to juggle the defence ministry which is absurd!
4. Modi's public appearance with Ambani was a disappointment. Sure, Ambani is not charged with anything but appearances are everything. Mukesh Ambani would have spent the money for one hospital just for that photo op with Modi. Everyone gets the message.
5. Just like foreign countries issue advisories about India, India can issue advisories about Switzerland or other tax havens - pass the message, any account in tax havens will invite probes. Naming and shaming should not be limited to individuals but also countries. Show resolve and setup the infrastructure to investigate. This is serious enough for India to risk breaking ties with Switzerland.

 

[Ray]

There are so many opinions that are floating around, that it flummoxes the common man who has no idea of these things.

 

[sob]

In India even of the Government names the illegal Swiss Account holders, it will have no impact. It will be news for a week or two and then every body will forget.

Remember the case of Lalu Yadav, Amma, A Raja and others. They continue to retain their follower base, nothing has changed.

In UP everyone knows the huge amounts of money that both Mulayam and Mayawati are supposed to have made-- does it have any impact on them. they continue to fight elections and even win.

 

[Ashutosh Lokhande]

@Bangalorean
Please explain how bjp was ullu banoving?

1. 2 weeks ago, BJP says that it cannot disclose names of any black money holders.
2. 1 Week ago, BJP says it will disclose 136 names and ends up revealing 3 names.
3. On 27th October, Bjp says they will give names of those against whom they have proof.

And yesterday, SC tightens all nuts and screws of BJP.... still you say no doubt raises against them?

4 hours before Arun Jaitly told that in June 2014 government has given 700 names to SIT and now government gave only 627..... why 73 names still less than Congress provided list????

Do you remember Mr. "5.6 inches" dialogue.

" Aap mujhe 100 din dijiye main kaala dhan le aaoonga !
Now...Elections over and excuses begin. why should i not question BJP then? why promise that you cant fulfill? why making ullu of aam people?

Forget 15 Lakhs, he will give all his voters 'Baba Ji ka T#%((u'.

also BJP themselves have corrupt and tainted politicians. why they not remove them and come clean?

 

[sayareakd]

Pradip Burman had only 18 crores in that account. That was in 2006, by now all must have been into different bank account. Even if IT department will launch prosecution, recovery will be made in Second Schedule of Income Tax Act.

( i am practice Second Schedule of Income since 2003 and it is very difficult to recover amount, if you hire right lawyer)

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

The claim of BJP supporters that "SIT already had names... Not a shame for Govt is a joke"

So the 627 names were not with SIT from June 2014? The chairman of SIT M B Shah (a former judge of SC) said the name were with them.

So you do not believe the chairman of SIT ?

So why was Modi Sarkar so reluctant to give the names 'again' ?
Basically The supreme court judges went furious when Modi Sarkar approached them with request to change 2 year old order that 'all names should be told by Govt.'

Words like furious/grilled/raped/slammed etc are used by media morons.

MODI government was reluctant to give name?

OK. Modi government which was slammed by SC gave the names to the apex court. So what did the SC did? Gave it to SIT which already had it.

Why the SC did not made those 627 names public? At least the government made 3 names public the SC did none.

So The enraged judges decided to corner government on black money probe.... as they righty said: "Aren't you ashamed... even UPA didn't asked us to change that order... it clearly seems that you are not interestd in catching black money holders... else you are shielding them.... You just give us names tommorow itself and we get them investigated...

Wah"¦it seems you are a die hard fan of Arnob (Times Now)

Did you read what the chairman of SIT said?


M B Shah – "He also backed the Centre by saying that he did not feel that the government was trying to protect anyone who is named in the list. "Nothing can be said to be eye wash. On the contrary we got some results also," he said.

Can you please post the comments made by the SC bench? Do not quote what interpreted by Media. (FYI –For 2 years a 27 year old is making fool of our media that he is joining NASA and they had published full articles.)

I critisize whenever theres need to critisize. BJP still has many tainted(serious charges) and corrupt politicians in there party itself which continue to work in BJP and i dont think i need to prove you about my honesty.

Who asked you to prove your honest? By the way who are you? I guess you are just 1 in 1.25 billion Indians.

If you can please file a PIL in the Apex court to make the list public.

 

[Bangalorean]

^^Well said. People like @Ashutosh Lokhande were screaming for the names all these months. Now I challenge them to go and extract the names from SC. I dare @Ashutosh Lokhande to file a PIL to get the names out. OK, I also volunteer to pay ALL the costs. So @Ashutosh Lokhande, are you up to it? I will pay you money, you do the work, keep me in the background. You go and get it done.

Let us see you put your effort where your mouth is.

 

[Ashutosh Lokhande]

Who asked you to prove your honest? By the way who are you? I guess you are just 1 in 1.25 billion Indians.

are you selective blind? that statement was not for you. banglorean had commented about the honesty and that reply was for him

and thnx for letting me know am 1 in 1.25 billion lol
you must be 1 in 2 blind BJP bhakts on this thread

 

[Ashutosh Lokhande]

^^Well said. People like @Ashutosh Lokhande were screaming for the names all these months. Now I challenge them to go and extract the names from SC. I dare @Ashutosh Lokhande to file a PIL to get the names out. OK, I also volunteer to pay ALL the costs. So @Ashutosh Lokhande, are you up to it? I will pay you money, you do the work, keep me in the background. You go and get it done.

Let us see you put your effort where your mouth is.

lol dude stop lieng. quote when i was screaming all these months about BJP not listing names?
and am not that vella cant say about you so you go and file PIL for me ill pay you the cost plus ill tip you. keep me in the loop.
i dare you, go and get all the names.




and the main question was to acknowledge and critisize the govts shortcomings where required. you still dodging my question on BJP politicians being tainted and corrupt. and all the false promise modi made before the elections. ppl like you(read bhakts) dont wanna acknowledge this fact and keeping singing same tune.
i repeat my previous statement that BJP may have done many good things. not taking anything away from them. but they have fooled people by empty promises and also they should come clean and remove the tainted,corrupt and gunda politicians from the party and continue to be pro active as they have been all these months.

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

are you selective blind? that statement was not for you. banglorean had commented about the honesty and that reply was for him

Selective blind....coming from someone who is not even sure of what he is talking about

and thnx for letting me know am 1 in 1.25 billion lol

You are welcome Sir

you must be 1 in 2 blind BJP bhakts on this thread

That's funny... seems you are a victim of Salma-Sabrina syndrome

 

[Ashutosh Lokhande]

Selective blind....coming from someone who is not even sure of what he is talking about



You are welcome Sir



That's funny... seems you are a victim of Salma-Sabrina syndrome

you are just an ignorant pathetic troll. shouldnt have expected resoning with bhakts.

 

[NSG_Blackcats]

you are just an ignorant pathetic troll. shouldnt have expected resoning with bhakts.

I am an ignorant troll and you are the most intelligent and dynamic member on DFI.

So my lord, please enlighten us why the SC of India after having the list from government did not make it public?

 

[iNDiAN.96]

Don't expect logical arguments from AAPtards.