The documents were submitted in three parts — correspondence between the governments of India and France, a list of 627 names with accounts in foreign banks till 2006, and a status report on investigations into stashing black money in the accounts abroad.
The Attorney General who handed over two sealed envelopes to the court, said later that nearly half of the account holders are Indian residents and they concern till 2006.
The apex court has reportedly passed on the list to the SIT and has directed it to complete initial probe in the black money case by March 2015. As per a DD report, only the chairman and vice-chairman of the SIT can open the sealed envelope containing names of account holders.
However, questions arise that if the SIT already has the list, as told by Finance Minister Arun Jaitly on Tuesday, what’s moved save the deadline? And also, why the apex court was not informed on time? Why the situation came to such a pass that the apex court had to scold the government to submit the list?
Following the harsh remarks by the apex court against the government on the black money issue on Tuesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that his ministry was prepared to hand over the information to the court and they have already been submitted to the special investigation team in June.
The government had promised to the court on Tuesday that it was willing to submit the names and there was no lack in its commitment in bringing back black money into the nation and punishing the guilty. However, they had to follow due procedure as any minor aberration may hamper flow of information from foreign governments in future.
BJP had said Tuesday that the apex court’s strictures were against the previous governments and not the present one. However, leaders coming across party lines and activists from all quarters strongly condemned the government’s approach in the case and accused the BJP government of dillydallying and attempting to create an umbrella of protection for the black money holders who are close to the saffron party.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has sought the apex court’s intervention to obtain bank statements for last ten years and initiate proper investigation in a time-bound manner.
