Black money: SC raps govt for not sharing info from Germany

A bench led by Justice H L Dattu reproached the government over its reluctance to share information received from Germany.

Clearing the decks for disclosing names of individuals stashing black money in foreign banks, the Supreme Court Tuesday said the government was under court orders to reveal such details and hand over further probe to the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

A bench led by Justice H L Dattu reproached the government over its reluctance to share information received from Germany about individuals stashing money in Liechtenstein Bank and cautioned it against contempt actions.

“You have not complied with our order dated July 4, 2011. It is totally contempt of our directions. Our order has been kept in cold storage for three years,” said the bench, nixing an argument by Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran that names received from Germany could be disclosed only after an investigation by the SIT.

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“In our view the judgment has to be read disjunctively and not conjectively. We have to take the statement of Solicitor General with a pinch of salt…we are not satisfied with this explanation,” it added.

The bench held that the court order was “crystal clear” that the government was bound to give the documents and information received from Germany about the account holders in Liechtenstein Bank to petitioner, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani.

“You were asked to forthwith comply with our orders. ‘Forthwith’ has an immediate effect and it did not have to wait for anything,” it said.

The bench was also surprised that a letter written by former judge Justice B P Jeevan Reddy in August 2011, wherein he expressed his inability to lead the SIT, was brought to its notice only now.

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“How all of a sudden this letter has surfaced. We are surprised that August 15, 2011 letter did not surface in previous occasion,” the bench said, also referring to a reminder by Justice Reddy this month.

The bench asked the Centre and Jethmalani to propose name of a former apex court judge who would agree to head the SIT.

While posting the matter on April 29, the bench asked the Solicitor General to take proper instruction from the Revenue Secretary and also respond as to what prevented the government from complying with the court orders.
On the last date, the court had lashed out at the UPA government for its “inaction” in bringing back black money.

Throwing out the government’s plea to disband the SIT set up by the court in 2011, the bench had come down heavily on it for “doing nothing” to retrieve black money from foreign tax havens.