Supreme Court criticizes Govt. on black money issue

New Delhi, Jan 19 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the government for its handling of black money planted by industrialists and others in foreign bank accounts.

"It is a pure and simple theft of the national money. We are talking about mind-boggling crime. We are not on the niceties of various treaties," said an apex-court bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar, while hearing a petition filed by former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and others to retrieve black money being held in foreign banks.

Meanwhile, the government has said that it is ready to share information with the apex court, but not make it public since it was in the process of getting more details of foreign accounts of Indians from other nations under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) regime.

The next hearing of the case will be held on January 27.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari renewed the demand, and asked the Centre to make public the names of Indians who have stashed unaccounted money in Swiss banks.

"I demand from the Central Government the names of those who have cheated and betrayed the country and amassed this black money. This money belongs to people of India, which has been kept in the Swiss bank. The Central Government has got the names of such people and the government should immediately reveal the names," said Gadkari.

"If they are trying to hide it, it means that they are hesitant to release the names because after the names are revealed, their face will be blackened," he added claiming that the overnment was holding back information to save its face.

Senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani on Sunday welcomed the Supreme Court's move to make public the details of black money stashed away abroad by Indians.

Speaking at the Mahasangram rally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) against corruption and price rise in Mumbai, Advani said: "The Supreme Court pulled up Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and asked him why the government could not divulge the details of those who had kept black money abroad.

Advani said that he would appeal to the court to take the steps on this front to a logical conclusion.

"The Indian Government must ensure that all the money abroad was brought back and it must punish the people involved and make special laws, if necessary on this issue," he added. (ANI)