Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out taking any “adventurist” way of revealing the names of those who have black money accounts, while reiterating that the Centre will pursue diplomatic and legal routes to ensure that the guilty are punished and the money stashed abroad is brought back.
Replying to a debate on the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said: “Opposition is suggesting a suicidal course on black money.”
He said that Government is proactive and committed to punishing illegitimate account holders. Alleging that it was the Centre which had provoked the Opposition to seek a debate on the issue, the Congress and other opposition parties said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it an election issue. The ruling party had then committed that within 100 days the money will be brought back.
The BJP leaders had also said that every citizen of the country will get ₹15 lakh when the black money is brought back.
“It is six months now and the Government has not taken a single step in this direction,” Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said.
Countering the attack, Jaitley said his Government did much more than any other could do within 180 days.
He said that from the HSBC list of 627 account holders (provided by a whistleblower), 427 have been identified and 250 of them have admitted to having accounts, making the Centre’s job easy.
He said all the available details have been provided to the Special Investigation Team and to the Supreme Court.
He said if the Centre had agreed to the Opposition’s suggestion of revealing all the names, it would have created many hurdles and the culprits could have gone scot-free.
The Minister said the country has signed 92 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements with various countries, of which, 91 have the confidentiality clause. “Every treaty that we have entered into has a confidentiality clause, except one treaty with Romania,” Jaitley said.
Exchange of infoThe countries are now agreeing on automatic exchange of information on all transactions, he said, adding that the Centre is on a learning curve and every step is being taken cautiously to ensure punishment of the culprits. Unhappy with his reply, the opposition members walked out of the House.
In the Lok Sabha too, the Opposition slammed the Prime Minister and the ruling BJP for having “failed” to keep up its election promise of bringing back the black money stashed abroad within 100 days of assuming power.
“He (Narendra Modi) owes an apology to Parliament…that he failed to do it (bring back the black money) and realise his deficiency…”, said senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily in the Lower House.
Earlier in the day, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said they (the BJP) made a mountain of a molehill and the government must stop the big talk.
The Finance Minister will address the Lok Sabha on Thursday.