Centre names 3 black money account holders in affidavit to apex court

The names of three Indians — Dabur’s Pradip Burman, Rajkot-based bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya and Goa-based mining baron Radha Satish Timblo of Timblo Private Ltd — were disclosed to the Supreme Court on Monday by the Centre for stashing illegal money abroad.

Besides naming Timblo Private Ltd, the company’s Directors Chetan S Timblo, Rohan S Timblo and Mallika R Timblo were also named in the affidavit ahead of the hearing on Tuesday in the black money case.

Questions raised As the names came out, questions were being raised in political circles about the selective disclosure of identities. The Centre informed the Court that while these names were received from French tax authorities, other disclosures were based on information received by local tax authorities — names against whom prosecution had been launched under the provisions of the Income Tax Act.

“The Government is committed to disclose names of persons holding illegal money abroad. However, every account held by an Indian in a foreign country may not be illegal and the fundamental right of citizens to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution cannot be ignored,” the Centre said.

It said only the names of those persons against whom prosecution had been launched could be disclosed.

Opposition reaction Congress Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the Government was sensationalising a serious issue. “After so much talk, just three names. Where are the lakhs and crores of money promised by the BJP during the campaign? Where are the 55,000 names of offenders promised by Baba Ramdev?” he asked.

“This is not an occasion for press sensationalism by the Government. Do not titillate and sensationalise on such an issue,” said Singhvi.

The Aam Aadmi Party asked the BJP Government to immediately disclose the names of all such account holders. “Why did the central government disclose only these three names? Does the rest of the list contain names of those who are close to the BJP?” asked AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Prashanth Bhushan.

Maintaining confidentiality On May 1, the apex court in its order had said: “Since the investigation is completed in the cases filed against those who had stashed money abroad, we direct the Union of India to furnish the documents and information which is kept in sealed covers to the petitioner Ram Jethmalani.”

The Government said that under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, confidentiality had to be maintained and names of persons revealed by the German authorities could not be made public and should be used only for tax purposes. The court needed to consider whether international standards had been violated in its directing the disclosure of names. Otherwise India’s rating would be lowered, it said.

The Centre made it clear that the names of all the persons who had stashed illegal money abroad as also all the information/documents received from foreign countries relating to offshore tax evasion and avoidance would be disclosed after following procedures.

Explaining the efforts taken by the Government, the affidavit said a high-level delegation met its counterparts in Bern, Switzerland, on October 15 and Switzerland had indicated its willingness to provide information where investigations had been carried out by the Income-Tax Department independently from what the Swiss government considered stolen data.

“India is on the verge of entering into bilateral and multilateral agreements for automatic exchange of information that would greatly help in our fight against black money stashed in financial accounts and assets maintained overseas by Indian taxpayers,” the affidavit added.

It sought modification of the May 1 order so that only those names against whom investigation had been completed and prosecution launched should be disclosed.