New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has not been shy about expressing its opinion on the government's attempts to trace and recover crores of black money. Today, the court went one massive step further. It has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to first find and then bring back undeclared money stashed abroad by Indians. Effectively, the government is no longer in charge of the operation.
The new committee will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Jeevan Reddy.
The court's Fail grade for the government was underscored by remarks that said that large amounts of unaccounted money are a measure of the "softness" of a nation and suggests collusion between "the law-makers, the law-keepers and the law-breakers." The criticism - delivered days before the monsoon session of parliament begins - gives the Opposition new ammo which was used immediately.
"This decision is a slap in the face of the government," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said. "It is proof that even the court does not trust the government's intentions on tackling corruption."
The Supreme Court has been monitoring the government's attempts to recover black money on the basis of petitions from lawyer Ram Jethmalani among others.
Pune businessmen, Hasan Ali, arrested in March for allegedly holding 8 billion dollars as black money, has often served as the headline of the controversy. The Supreme Court has repeatedly reprimanded the government for not following up on critical leads in Mr Ali's case. Today it emphasized that these lapses have convinced it of the need to sideline the government in the investigation. The judge said, "During the continuing interrogation of Hasan Ali Khan and the Tapurias, undertaken for the first time at the behest of this Court, many names of important persons, including leaders of some corporate giants, politically powerful people, and international arms dealers have cropped up. So far, no significant attempt has been made to investigate and verify the same."
The Supreme Court has also ordered the government to reveal some of the names on a list of 26 Indians who hold undeclared money in the tax haven of Liechtenstein.
The list was given to the Indian government by the LGT Bank in Liechtenstein in March 2009. The government has argued in the past that it cannot publicise the names because that would violate tax and banking treaties.
The Supreme Court however countered, "We have perused the said agreement with Germany. We are convinced that the said agreement, by itself, does not proscribe the disclosure of the relevant documents and details of the same, including the names of various bank account holders in Liechtenstein."