New Delhi: Expressing concern over the
Centre`s alleged unwillingness to disclose the names of
Indians among Swiss bank accountees, JD-U on Monday sought the
Supreme Court`s intervention to ensure that the names are made
public, asking it not to leave its initiative midway.
"It is a matter of great concern that the Centre is not
willing to come up with the names of people, who have amassed
their ill-gotten wealth in foreign banks....If government does
not do it, we appeal to the Supreme Court (to act on the
matter). When they (the SC) have initiated the matter (of
black money), they should not leave it midway," party chief
Sharad Yadav told reporters here.
Yadav`s comments came a day before Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee is to announce the measures UPA government
intends to take to bring back the unaccounted money to the
country and tighten the regulatory and tax framework to
prevent further illegal outflows.
The Supreme Court had pulled up the government for
withholding information on black money stashed in foreign
banks, saying it is not just limited to tax evasion but a
"mind boggling crime" amounting to "theft" and "plunder" of
national wealth having security ramifications.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said there was "no
instant solution" to bring back black money salted away in
foreign banks and that information with the government cannot
be made public due to treaty obligations.
Meanwhile, referring to the Prime Minister`s statement
Yadav said, "Bringing back money or recovery of the full
amount can be decided in due course, but the government should
at least publish the names of such people, who have their
foreign accounts stacked with the loot money."
He further said, "The government has got some information
with it about some such account holders. The nation wants to
know who are these anti-national people...this government is
accountable to give their details, because it is accountable
to the people who have elected it."
Yadav also attacked the Centre on the issue of
constitution of JPC to look into the 2G Spectrum allocation.
"The refusal of the government to institute JPC to probe
the corruption cases of 2G, CWG and Adarsh Society has
resulted in paralysing of Parliament session. Not only the
opposition but even non-Congress allies of UPA are not against
the JPC. Congress has only 206 MPs in Lok Sabha and thus a
massive majority of 335 members of the House are for JPC,"
Yadav said.
PTI
