Advani apologises to Sonia on Swiss bank account issue

New Delhi, Feb 18 (PTI) Senior BJP leader L K Advanihas apologised to Congress President Sonia Gandhi for aparty-appointed task force report, which had alleged that sheand her late husband Rajiv had accounts in Swiss banks.

BJP had appointed the task force on unravelling theamount of black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks andways to bring it back.

The report had alleged that Sonia Gandhi and formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were among Indians who held Swissbank accounts.

This had led Sonia Gandhi to write a letter to Advanidenying the allegation.

Sources said in the letter, Gandhi had said thatneither she nor her husband held Swiss bank accounts.

In his reply to the Congress President''s letter,Advani expressed regret of her name and that of her latehusband being mentioned in the task force report.

However, Advani also stated in his reply that theGandhis should have denied this publicly when there weremurmurs that names of her family members could figure in thereport.

Advani said had she done so, the name of her familymembers would not have figured in the task force.

The four-member task force comprising S Gurumurthy,former IB director Ajit Doval, Professor R Vadiyanathan andadvocate Mahesh Jethmalani has put the figure of money stashedin safe havens to be 25 lakh crore.

On February 1, NDA leaders had released a booklet''Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens'',the second report of the task force appointed by the BJP. PTIRC SKU