Published: October 30, 2014 00:25 IST | Updated: October 30, 2014 00:25 IST
‘Get affidavits on foreign accounts from Ministers’
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek affidavits from all his Ministers declaring that they do not operate, either on their own behalf or through their immediate family members, any undisclosed or illegal foreign bank accounts.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr. Swamy has also sought the scrapping of the Participatory Notes Scheme, as recommended by the Tarapore Committee of the Reserve Bank. “All monies held by Indian citizens under the Participatory Notes Scheme should be declared as black money by the Ordinance [based on a private member’s Bill introduced by former Rajya Sabha member Fali Nariman],” Dr. Swamy wrote.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/get-affidavits-on-foreign-accounts-from-ministers-subramanian-swamy/article6545606.ece?ref=relatedNews
Published: October 30, 2014 00:18 IST | Updated: October 30, 2014 00:18 IST
You pushed us to ask for names, SC tells Centre
On the day the Centre placed the names of 627 account holders of HSBC, Geneva, in sealed covers before the Supreme Court in the black money case, the court said it was pushed into asking for the names by the government.
The court hearing on Wednesday witnessed an unexpected turn when the Bench, led by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, refused to even open the sealed covers and glance through the names. This, when it had on the previous day insisted that the government produce the list of names.
On Wednesday, the Chief Justice, with the sealed cover before him, proceeded to indicate why the court had taken such a tough stand on Tuesday.
“We would not have asked for the names, but you came out with this application to modify our order, so we said you give us the names first,” the Chief Justice told the AG.
“You would not have wasted your time and we would not have wasted our time if you had taken the hint from Mr. Ram Jethmalani (petitioner in the black money case) when he made some sarcastic comments about your application on the first day,” CJI Dattu said. Later in the day, Special Investigation Team chief and former apex court judge, Justice (retired) M.B. Shah said there was nothing new in the list of names. He told a TV channel that the names were already known to the SIT and they were the same the government had handed over in June 27, 2014. In fact, he was merely confirming what Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had submitted in the morning before CJI H.L. Dattu’s court.
Justifying its application, the AG clarified that the government was not trying to “hide or save anything”. He said the government’s objective was to “get back the black money for the country” and its only request was that nothing “should be done that will further impede information from these countries”. To this, the Bench shot back: “SIT knows its job”.
The CJI said, “They are not laymen. They are two retired Supreme Court judges.”
SWAMY’S SIX STEPS TO BRING BACK BLACK MONEY
Thursday, 30 October 2014 | PNS | New Delhi
Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement six steps to retrieve the stashed black money from abroad. In his letter, Swamy said the Government has committed “errors” in Supreme Court especially in clubbing the DTAA (Double Tax Avoidance Agreement) with the black money issue.
“First error committed by the Government in the Court was to cite DTAA by bilateral treaty with the Government as an obstacle to disclosure of names having illegal foreign bank accounts. DTAA applies only to accounts of those earning abroad as residents but avoiding paying taxes….DTAA only applies when there is an income tax issue. The bulk of black money arises however from corruption, drug trafficking, terrorist financing and other fraudulent activities,” said Swamy.
Outlining the six steps, Swamy said first and foremost the Government should pass an ordinance by adopting eminent jurist Fali Nariman’s private member’s bill introduced in Rajya Sabha. Nariman has introduced a private bill for declaring all illicit wealth stashed abroad as national wealth and conveying to all foreign account holders that they were obliged to bring back all such monies into Indian financial system and subjected to thorough investigation.
“Review the reasons why the Exchange Earner’s Foreign Currency (EEFC) Account authorised by RBI has been bypassed leading to black money accumulated mostly in tax havens. Revise this EEFC to authorise the Indian banks to operate the required accounts in foreign currencies and refuse permission to Indian citizens seeking to open such accounts outside financial system of India,” said Swamy outlining the second step.
He also sought the scrapping of Participatory Notes scheme and declaration of all the moneys under this scheme held by Indian citizens as black money. “Direct CBI to probe the disclosure that I made in a letter to the Finance Ministry about Sonia Gandhi and her son’s accounts in Sarasin and Pictet Banks in Zurich,” added Swamy.
The BJP leader also urged the PM to immediately crack down the black money cases with specific instances like the cases related to Hassan Ali and Moin Qureshi. Swamy urged PM to seek affidavits from Central Ministers that they or their relatives have no undisclosed or illegal foreign bank accounts.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/swamys-six-steps-to--bring-back-black-money.html