Supporter turns big critique!Jethmalani accuses Modi govt of protecting culprits in black money case

A day after the Central Government informed the Supreme Court that it cannot disclose details given by countries in black-money case, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani has accused Modi Government of protecting the culprits. Senior lawer Jethmalani is the man on whose plea the Supreme Court had earlier formed Special Investigating Team (SIT) on unaccounted money case.

Dejected over Center's response, Jethmalani who has been big supporter of Prime Minister Modi said, "Matter should not be entertained even for a day. Such application should have been made by the culprits and not by the government". The lawyer also added that Centre was trying to protect the people who have stashed black money in foreign banks.

Jethmalani, who claimed that around Rs 70 lakh crore was stashed in foreign banks, said that he has written a letter to Prime Minister on this issue and his response is awaited. Earlier, The Government said that they can't disclose names as India has double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA).

In an application with annexures running into about 800 pages, the Centre contended it cannot disclose all information as the countries, with which India has DTAA, have objected to making them public. Interestingly, the apex court had earlier rejected the same stand taken by UPA government, observing that such DTAA does not prevent the Centre from disclosing the names of the persons having bank accounts in foreign banks.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to bring back black money kept by Indians in bank abroad, and slammed the UPA government, accusing it of shielding the corrupt. After assuming power in May, the Modi government had pledged to fulfil its pre-poll promise.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from PTI)