Directly contradicting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the BJP on Tuesday said there was no confidentiality clause that prevented the government from releasing information of account holders in the tax haven Liechtenstein Bank.
BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “We believe the Liechtenstein authorities had agreed to share with anyone the names of account holders. There was no confidentiality clause. Yet, the government did not pursue it.”
Mr. Prasad gave the BJP, especially L.K. Advani, the credit for flagging the ‘black money in Swiss banks' issue ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, adding, though the Congress manifesto had promised steps would be taken to unearth this black money within 100 days of coming to office.
The BJP said the government's statements were “without meaningful intent to execute a time-bound programme to unearth black money” and share details of account holders with the people of this country.
