The NDA government on Friday made a “U-turn” and informed the Supreme Court that the names of persons with black money in foreign banks could not be revealed, a move the Congress called “political dishonesty.”
The government told the court that under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, confidentiality had to be maintained and the names revealed by the German authorities could not be made public and should be used only for tax purposes.
Making this application, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi informed a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justices Madan B. Lokur and A.K. Sikri that the government wanted modification of the orders passed in May 2014, directing the Centre to disclose to Ram Jethmalani, the petitioner, the names of persons who had stashed away money in German banks.
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Even as Mr. Jethmalani protested, the Bench posted the application for hearing on October 28. On May 1, the apex court had said, “Since the investigation is completed in the cases filed against those who had stashed money abroad, we direct the Union of India to furnish the documents and information to Mr. Jethmalani.”
The Congress accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of double standards as the BJP had made black money an issue during the Lok Sabha poll campaign. Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the government’s stand was basically what the former Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, had taken.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the names would be revealed “once charge sheets are filed.”
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(Additional reporting by Anita Joshua, Gargi Parsai)