NEW DELHI: Indias Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has made a frontal attack on Opposition Congress saying not only will his government disclose the names of those who have stashed away black money in illegal foreign accounts shortly, but that these revelations will embarrass the Congress party. In an interview to NDTV, on Tuesday, 21 October, Mr. Jaitley responded to the Congress accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of hypocrisy for its failure to disclose names. He said, the Congress had got it all wrong because the media had “completely misreported” the case. “Media said we are not going to disclose it. Our case was we will disclose it as per the due process of law,” the minister said.
“The names (of black-money account holders) will be public shortly … I can assure you there is no embarrassment I (BJP) will have when all the names are disclosed. There is some embarrassment the Congress party will have because of those names,” he said.
Jaitley said the names of those account holders against whom charges are filed by Indian authorities would be disclosed in the court shortly. He further said that India’s double taxation avoidance agreement with Germany only restrains disclosure of names in media and not in court.
“It (tax avoidance treaty) did not prevent us from disclosing the names. It merely says disclose it to a court and don’t disclose it to the media. And when you disclose it to a court, it automatically gets carried into the media. That’s all we are saying,” Jaitley said.
On Wednesday, 22 October, Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken hit back at the BJP. He said in New Delhi, Don’t blackmail the Congress, we will not succumb to any such pressure. Mr Maken said the Congress was ready for an investigation. We want the complete truth…Avoid selective leakage of names, he said.
Last week, when the government told the Supreme Court that it cannot yet publicly disclose a list handed over by Germany in 2009 of Indians with accounts in the tax haven of Lichtenstein, the Congress said that was exactly the argument it was attacked for by the BJP while it was in power.
Mr Maken on Wednesday, accused the BJP government of misleading the public and demanded to know why the party had not kept its poll promise of bringing back black money within 100 days of assuming power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, had promised then that each citizen would get Rs. 15 lakh if black money is brought back. I want that 15 lakh to reflect in my bank account, Mr Maken said.
The Congress is also dismissive of Mr Jaitley’s charge that tax treaties signed by the Congress government in 1995 compel confidentiality at this stage of investigation.
Mr Jaitley told NDTV that the tax treaties forbid the disclosure of names till charges are framed in court. He also said that this process will not take much longer.
The recovery of black or illicit money from abroad was turned into a major campaign issue by the BJP ahead of the national election this year. The party said the Congress was using tax treaties as an excuse to shield the guilty. The Supreme Court of India has set up a special team to work out how to recover black money.
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