It conceals more than it reveals, says Jaswant

Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has termed the White Paper on black money a “bikini,” arguing that it concealed much more than it revealed.

Addressing a news conference here on Monday, Mr. Singh bemoaned that the White Paper concealed all the “essentials” and reveals all the “non-essentials.” It was a “non-paper,” having failed to address the concerns of the people.

It did not even indicate the quantum of black money, he said, and the government's inability to give an estimate was particularly disappointing, as the last nationwide yatra of BJP veteran L.K. Advani was devoted to raising awareness among people on how black money was wrecking the economy.

Mr. Singh maintained that the document had no reliable quantification of illegal money held abroad and the names of accounts and account holders. Nor did it spell out the steps taken by the government for the repatriation of the money, despite the public outcry.

“Another shortcoming is that this document does not explicitly state the creation of illegal/black money through arms and armament procurement and trade by government; generation of black money on account of unreasonable stamp duty levies, particularly on land transactions; and the creation of an environment of criminality by corrupt politics,” he said.

Mr. Singh pointed to the sudden dip in the quantum of Indian money deposited in Swiss banks, from Rs.23,373 crore in 2006 to Rs.9,295 crore in 2010 and wondered where the money had gone.