New Delhi: The government has submitted a list of 627 Indians with foreign bank accounts in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court, which is monitoring attempts to recover crores in untaxed or black money stashed abroad.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi submitted a set of three documents in court.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said it will be up to the judges to decide whether to make the names public. “There is nobody that the government wants to protect,” he said.
On Tuesday, the judges questioned what they believed were attempts to shield foreign account holders.
“Why are you providing a protective umbrella to foreign bank account holders?” they asked, adding, “You do not do anything. Just pass on the information of account holders to us and we will pass orders for a further probe.”
Both the previous government headed by Manmohan Singh and the new BJP government have argued in court that tax treaties with other countries prohibit the disclosure of names till charges are framed.
On Monday, the government named eight people in the top court who are being prosecuted for allegedly hiding undeclared cash in Swiss and other banks. Four Congress names are also under scrutiny for accounts with HSBC in Switzerland; among them is an ex-UPA minister of state.
Critics have accused the government of using tax treaties as an excuse to shield rich and powerful citizens. India has double tax avoidance treaties with over 80 countries and is also part of the G20 framework to unearth black money, which now allows automatic exchange of information from 2017.
The government on Tuesday said once it has completed investigations against Indians who hold bank accounts in countries like Germany and Switzerland, it will provide all information to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has been monitoring the investigations into black money since 2009, based on a petition filed by senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
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