The Centre on Wednesday submitted a sealed cover to the Supreme Court containing a list of 627 Indians holding black money in bank accounts abroad along with a status report on the investigation conducted against them.
The three-judge Bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justices Ranjana Desai and Madan B Lokur, which had hardened its stand on Tuesday against the Centre for non-disclosure of all names, decided not to reveal the names.
The Bench made it clear to Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi that it did not intend to open the three envelopes submitted by him and asked the Registry to send them to the Special Investigation Team. It directed that the envelopes should be opened only by SIT Chairman Justice MB Shah and Vice-Chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat, for a further probe in respect of the 627 names.
The Bench also empowered the SIT to evolve its own procedure in accordance with law after hearing the grievances and difficulties of the Centre with regard to treaties with various countries and the submissions of petitioner Ram Jethmalani and his counsel.
Earlier Rohatgi told the court that the first document contained details of correspondence, treaties and agreements India had signed with France and other nations where the money was said to be stashed; the second contained the 627 names; and the third gave the status report on the investigation in these cases.
Rohatgi said that more than half the people in the list of 627 were Indian nationals while the rest were Non-Resident Indians. He said that most people named in the list had their accounts with HSBC Bank, Geneva.
The Attorney-General added that the details of account holders with entries dated up to 2006 were supplied by the French government to the Centre in 2011. He said that the information was stolen from HSBC Bank in Geneva and reached France from where the Government got the information.
The AG said the income-tax law had been amended to extend the period of limitation for launching a prosecution, and that the investigation should be completed by March 31, 2015. He said the Centre was not interested in protecting anybody and would follow the court’s orders.
When the CJI asked the AG whether the Government was pressing the application seeking modification of the orders, the AG said he was not doing so.
The Bench asked the SIT to submit a status report on the probe by November 30 and posted the matter for further hearing on December 3.
AAP’s intervention petition Meanwhile Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, through his counsel Prashant Bhushan, filed an intervention application stating that he had personal knowledge of some of the names having black money stashed in foreign bank accounts and was also in possession of the statements made by such persons before income-tax authorities.
Bhushan told the court that at the time of raids of their premises, these persons had confessed to holding black money in foreign accounts and also disclosed the modus operandi of how the ill-gotten money was transferred from India to their foreign accounts, and further, how this money was brought back through hawala transactions.
Kejriwal said that though the Government had revealed eight names, the list did not contain the names of the three who had given statements. He said he was placing all such names/information, obtained through a whistleblower, before the court so that a thorough investigation could be ordered and effective steps taken to check such illegal transactions of black money. The Bench said it would consider the application on December 3.
PTI reports:
SIT report will be submitted on time: MB Shah
Investigations against over 600 people accused of stashing money abroad illegally are going on and a status report will be submitted on time, said MB Shah, chief of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.
“We have already filed the first report (on black money) in August. Certainly I am hopeful about it (timely submission of the second report),” he said on Wednesday.
On a day the Attorney General submitted a list of 627 names having accounts in HSBC Bank, Geneva, to the apex court, Shah told a news channel that the list was already known to the team.
“Investigation is going on. Without investigation it is very difficult to say that a person is guilty or that person has done something wrong. A person is required to be heard first,” he said.
Shah, a retired Supreme Court judge, said investigation in these cases is not easy. “It is not easy because when a department also issues a notice, it takes time. The concerned parties and assessees’ replies take time,” said the SIT chief.