By Chanchal Manohar Singh

Chandigarh, Oct. 29 (PKB): Government of India (GoI) on finally submitted to the Supreme Court  (SC) on Wednesday a list consisting of 627 names of Indians having accounts in foreign banks in Switzerland, Germany, France and some other countries.

What shocked everybody was that the first list submitted to the SC did not carry the names of any politician or bureaucrat. Though India’s finance Minister Arun Jaitely said that the congress would be embarrassed if all the names were disclosed.

Black money sources are mainly from incomes not disclosed to the government usually to avoid taxation, and, some in some cases, because of its criminal links. About a third of India's black money transactions are believed to be in real estate, followed by manufacturing and shopping for gold and consumer goods and drug smuggling.

But fact of the case is that the persons or companies having accounts abroad are donors to both the political parties –Congress and BJP-. That appears to be one of the reasons that GoI was trying to hide the names of black money account holders. Even some Punjab politicians have their account abroad.

According to newspaper reports, while there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had salted away $462 billion (about 28 lakh crore in current exchange rates) in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008.

Black money sources are mainly from incomes not disclosed to the government usually to avoid taxation, and, some in some cases, because of its criminal links. About a third of India's black money transactions are believed to be in real estate, followed by manufacturing and shopping for gold and consumer goods and drug smuggling.

Congress demaned that all the names be disclosed if any Congressman’s name is found in the list, the individual would be responsible for that and not the Congress party.

The the list with 627 names of black money holders was handed over to SC in a sealed cover to the SC, which had directed the government on Tuesday did bashing of the government and went to the extend of saying do not provide  "protective umbrella" to such persons.

The apex courtdid not open the envelope in the open court and observed that it be placed before a special investigation team (SIT) probing the black money staked in the foreign banks.

However, government also handed over two other sealed envelopes which contained details regarding various treaties with foreign countries and the probe conducted by its agencies.

The SC said that only the SIT chairman and vice-chairman could only open these envelopes. 

In its directions the SC said that, SIT’s investigating team would submit a status report by the end of November 2014.

The SC set the next date of hearing in this case on December 3 and stated that the SIT will decide about the further course of action to be taken on the issue of black money lying in foreign banks abroad.

"The court has directed all documents should be handed over to SIT and they will take appropriate decisions on the matter," said lawyer Prashant Bhushan of Aam Adami Party (AAP).

Taking a strict note of the black money case, the SC court had on Tuesday rejected the Centre's argument that revealing the identity of legal account holders would amount to breach of privacy.

Rohatgi, however, told the court the government was not trying to shield anybody. Finance minister Arun Jaitley too said the government had absolutely no difficulty in giving the list to the court.

The Supreme Court's order to submit all the names came a day after the Centre filed an affidavit disclosed the names of seven individuals and a mining company who have allegedly stashed black money abroad and are facing prosecution for tax evasion under the Income Tax Act.

Those named in the government affidavit were Pradip Burman of the Dabur group, Rajkot-based bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhya and directors of Goa-based mining company Timblo Private Limited - Radha Satish Timblo, Chetan S Timblo, Rohan S Timblo, Anna C Timblo and Mallika R Timblo. Timblo Private Limited, a firm identified by Association for Democratic Reforms as a donor to both the BJP and the Congress, was also named.

The court is hearing a public interest petition filed by former law minister Ram Jethmalani in 2009 seeking a direction to the Centre to bring back black money stashed by Indians abroad. Jethmalani had accused the government of attempting to shield powerful politicians and businessmen.

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has also filed an application requesting the court to hear him in the matter.