The UPA government sought to convince the SC that it had taken all necessary steps to regarding the huge amount of Indians' black money stocked in certain foreign banks.
The UPA government on Saturday sought to convince the Supreme Court that it had taken all necessary steps to regarding the huge amount of Indians' black money stocked in certain foreign banks as it termed a petition seeking retrieval of at least $1.4 billion or Rs 70 lakh crore from the Swiss Banks.
In its affidavit as precursor to the Supreme Court's hearing on Monday, additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam termed as `politically motivated' a PIL filed by a group of concerned citizens including the noted parliamentarian and lawyer Ram Jethmalani, former Punjab top cop K P Gill and former secretary general of Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap.
The government has sought its dismissal as it finds the timing of moving the court 'mysterious' when elections are on and BJP has made it a poll issue. Earlier on April 22 when petitioners' counsel Anil Babu Divan sought an early hearing in the matter of vital importance to national interest and economy, ASG had persuaded the court not to issue a notice to the respondents as the government would file its response within 48 hours.
Besides the Union government, the other respondents mentioned in the PIL are Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, Directorate of Enforcement and Finance Ministry. It also refutes the charge that government is not concerned with the problem saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his opening speech at the G-20 submit in London, had said that "there should be an absolute transparency and banking secrecy should be over".
The ASG had said that the Ministry of Finance had written to the German authorities in February and June 2008 when the issue appeared in the media seeking information about Indian account holders in LGP Bank.
The petition sought a direction to the Centre to take up with the foreign banks, particularly the UBS Bank, Switzerland, the issue of freezing of accounts of Indian businessmen, politicians and other influential persons illegally holding their assets in such financial institutions. The lawsuit is based on an in-house research article written by noted economist and professor at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore E. Vaidyanathan.
Vaidyanathan has estimated that 'between 2002 to 2006, $1.4 billion, roughly equivalent to Rs.70, 00,000 crore (Rs.70 trillion), have been siphoned off from this country and stashed away in foreign banks'.
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