Black money probe : SIT chief Justice M B Shah says stash list is not new
30 Oct 2014 1:54 AM GMT
NDA government had given a similar the list to the SIT in June for investigations
SIT Chief Justice M.B. Shah. (Photo: PTI/File)
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday submitted to the Supreme Court a list of 627 Indians with accounts in HSBC Bank, Geneva, and are being probed for stashing black money abroad. This list was given to India by the French authorities.
The Supreme Court bench didn’t open the seal of the envelope containing these names and sent it to the Special Investigation Team examining the issue of black money headed by Justice M.B. Shah. The Supreme Court asked the SIT to submit a status report on its probe by the end of November. The court will now hear the matter on December 3.
The NDA government had given a similar the list to the SIT in June for investigations. The Supreme Court asked the SIT to verify the list given by the government and carry on with its probe in accordance with the law.
Mr Shah said the investigation against over 600 people accused of stashing money abroad illegally was going on, and the report would be submitted in time. He said the list was already known to the team.
Speaking to a TV channel, Justice Shah said, “We are back to square one. The government has submitted the same list which was submitted to us last June. All the facts that have been revealed in the black money list were already known to the SIT.”
“The investigations are going on. Without investigation it is very difficult to say that a person is guilty or that a person has done something wrong. A person is required to be heard first,” he said.
Special Investigation Team chairman Justice M.B. Shah said any investigation against those who were named by the Centre of having money in foreign bank accounts was not easy.
“It is not easy because when a department also issues a notice, it takes time. The parties and assesses need time for replies,” he said.
He denied that the government’s probe in the black money case was an eyewash. “It is not an eyewash. Nothing can be said to be an eyewash. On the contrary, we have got some results,” he said.
The income-tax department is waiting to take the SIT’s permission to initiate prosecution against around 300 of those on the list. The I-T department plans to investigate them under Sections 277 (false statement in verification) and 276D (failure to produce documents).
Some 120 of these cases are already under prosecution. The income-tax department has already realised '200 crore in taxes and penalties from some of these account-holders, who have accepted holding these accounts abroad.
On Wednesday morning, attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi submitted before the court the documents which contained the correspondence with the French authorities, the names of account-holders and the status report of the probe conducted so far in separate sealed covers.
The Centre told the court that almost half the account-holders were resident Indians who could be prosecuted under the income-tax laws, while the rest were NRIs.
Mr Rohatgi said the deadline for investigation under the Income-Tax Act into these accounts is March 31, 2015. It said that some of the account-holders had already admitted that they held accounts and had paid taxes.
The details of account-holders are of 2006, which were supplied by the French government to the Centre in 2011. Most transactions in those accounts took place during 1999 and 2000.
“We will send the entire list to the SIT and they can proceed in accordance with the law. It is for them to take care of how to conduct a further probe. The SIT shall proceed in accordance with the law and evolve its own procedures,” said the Supreme Court bench.
The A-G said the only request of the Centre was over the terms of treaties with foreign countries as they all had a clause of confidentiality. “Nothing should be done to impede our ability to get further information on black money,” he said.
The Supreme Court asked the Centre to put forth its grievances before the SIT on the difficulties faced by it while entering into tax agreements with foreign nations. Significantly, India on Wednesday failed to attend an OECD meeting in Berlin where a multilateral agreement requiring a commitment to follow international standards of confidentiality for information received relating to black money was signed.
The Supreme Court did not allow the plea of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to provide additional information on the issue to the SIT, saying that it will consider his plea on the next date of hearing.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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