Arvind Kejriwal trying to create blackmoney into white: BJP

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Kejriwal to answer to the queries posed to him for accepting funds from "dummy" companies which "have fictitious addresses, have common directors and no business to show and are making no profits."

"All his claims to be the sole custodian of propriety, of probity, of morality, of standards of polity in India stand completely exposed because of his conspicuous silence to squarely face these searching questions.

"The political conduct has been completely contradictory to the standards Kejriwal set for himself," Prasad said.

He asked the AAP leader as to why he was running away from the truth and accused him of turning blackmoney into white. "I strongly condemn this," Prasad said.

"Mr Kejriwal please answer. You took money from such a company which does not have any business, any profit, whose directors are in many dummy companies with fictitious addresses. We want answers to these questions.

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ADR urges SIT to check black money pumped into elections

In a letter to Justice (retd.) MB Shah, Chairman of the SIT on black money, Jagdeep Chhokar, founder-trustee of the ADR, said that SIT's work cannot be completed unless attention is paid to the possible use of unaccounted money in the electoral and political process.

Following the letter, the ADR submitted a memorandum to the SIT calling for a ceiling on election expenditure of political parties, bringing them under the Right to Information Act and disclosure of sources of income of candidates contesting elections.

"The availability of disproportionately large resources of unaccounted money with the political parties during elections might lend itself to misuse by the parties which belies the ideal of free and fair elections in a democratic setup like India. Thus a ceiling should be imposed on election expenditure of political parties," it said.

Source: Hindi News and Newspaper

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427 foreign bank account holders identified, says Arun Jaitley

Replying to a debate on black money in the Rajya Sabha, he said the government will "pro-actively chase" those having black money and will not rest till the last account is identified.
   
Bringing back black money stashed abroad is a procedure which will take time, he said while responding to attack by Opposition which questioned non-fulfillment of the poll promise of BJP leaders of getting the illicit money back in 100 days.
   
He, however, did not respond to the Opposition attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reportedly saying in the run up to elections that each person will get Rs 15-20 lakh if all the black money is brought back.
   
Members of Congress, Trinamool Congress, JD(U), Samajwadi Party and CPM, staged a walkout even before Jaitley could conclude his reply.
   
During the discussion in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, Congress alleged that BJP had "sold lies" and misled the nation for which the government should apologise.
   
Spelling out the steps being taken by the government, Jaitley referred to the HSBC list of 627 account holders, received by the government and said identity of 427 of them has been established. 250 of them have admitted to having accounts, making the government's task easier, he added.
   
Replying to opposition criticism, he said, "We have done more in 100 days than what other governments had done."
   
The confidentiality clause prevents disclosure of names of foreign account holders unless prosecution is launched against them in a court of law, he noted.

Source: News in Hindi And Newspaper

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Apologise if you can't fulfil black money promise: Opposition to government

Initiating a discussion on black money, deputy leader of Congress Anand Sharma said that when the BJP leaders were in the opposition, they had "misled" the country by making tall promises of bringing back the black money stashed away abroad.
  
Sharma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during BJP's poll campaign, had claimed that black money was to the tune of Rs 85 lakh crore.
  
He said Modi had also said that black money stashed abroad is equal to five Union budgets and that it was enough to put Rs 15 lakh in the account of all Indian citizens.
  
The Congress leader said that after assuming office, there has been a change in stance of the Prime Minister and now the quantum of black money is no longer known.
  
"Today, November 26, 2014, exactly six months after the government has taken over, there is a three sixty degree turn on the issue...Earlier everything was known, now nothing is known," Sharma said.
  
He claimed that leaders of the ruling party were "neither sincere nor serious" in their talk about black money earlier.
  
Taking a dig at BJP's election slogan, he said "achche din (good days)" have come and people are waiting for Rs 15 lakh to be put in their accounts as promised to them.

He said that then BJP chief Rajnath Singh, now the Union Home Minister, had said that if BJP is voted to power, black money would be brought back within hundred days.
  
Sharma claimed that the UPA government had done a lot of work on the issue of black money. "What additional information has the government got in the last six months apart from the information that the UPA was able to obtain," he asked.
  
He asked the government to act and fulfil the poll promises and if they cannot they should apologise to the people saying, "We sold lies but now we will try as a government."

Source: News in Hindi And Newspaper

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Black money case: SIT invites information from public

The panel comprising of retired judges and regulators will soon release an email id where anyone can give information, sources say.

Anybody having credible information on black money can approach the SIT. The team will investigate that information, but it needs to be an authentic one. And no one will be spared.

However the panel will meet on Thursday to work out details of its inquiry, a day after the government submitted a list of 627 foreign account holders to the Supreme Court.

The court has set a deadline of March next year to complete the investigations into whether these account holders have violated tax laws. The court said the list will be given to the top officials of the SIT.

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I-T department to prosecute about 300 foreign bank account holders

Officials said the department has informed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to go into the issue, to allow it to start the "first step of prosecution" under two sections of the Income Tax Act.
   
Prosecution is being sought under Section 277 (false statement in verification) and 276 D (failure to produce documents) so that the department can share information with other enforcement agencies like the ED and CBI, they said.
  
The sources said the department has already realised Rs. 200 in taxes and penalties from some of these account holders who have accepted to holding these accounts abroad.  There could be another Rs.200 crore to Rs.300 crore in taxes and penalties that could be realised from the others, they said.
  
"The list of 627 Indians submitted to the apex court today has close to 300 people against whom prosecution action can be launched soon. Basic prosecution, at least under select sections of the I-T Act. While some 120 cases are already under prosecution these fresh individuals and entities can also be booked based on prima facie evidence gathered by tax sleuths," sources said.
  
They said this will enable the SIT to hand over some vital information to agencies like Enforcement Directorate and CBI who could take action under their mandates and the laws that they enforce.
  
International and bilateral treaties allow a member nation to share such information obtained by one agency with others only at the stage of prosecution or when the matter is in the purview of courts of the land.
  
"The SIT has agreed to this and we expect to file new prosecutions sooner than later. In these 300 cases the I-T department has some evidence," they said.
    
Officials said these cases pertain to the years 1999-2000 and they will get "time barred" by March 2015 and hence there is "no time to loose" for the authorities.
    
Sources privy to the contents of these lists said there are a number of "established" cases where the foreign account is genuine and has been reflected in tax statements filed by the individual or entity.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper

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