Govt pre-empts SIT, sets up panel to track black money
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NEW DELHI: In an attempt to pre-empt a proposal to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT), the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it would set up a 10-member high-powered supervisory committee to track black money and their linkage to terror funding and drug syndicates.
The revenue secretary will head the committee which will include directors of CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and chiefs of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Bureau (FIU), Foreign Trade and Tax division as well as deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"This committee will start work immediately. Every time any of the investigating agencies comes across some information about black money -- both abroad and domestic -- it will be shared with other agencies and investigation will be coordinated. The revenue secretary will submit periodic status reports to the court," solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam said.
During the last hearing, the Bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar had asked the Centre to respond to why an SIT not be set up to track black money as the government appeared to have done nothing concrete and why names of foreign bank account holders who had stashed black money there not be disclosed.
The Centre's pre-emptive measure of announcing a special committee did not cut ice with petitioner Ram Jethmalani, whose counsel and senior advocate Anil Divan said, "It is just old wine in a new bottle. All these agencies were already party to the petition and nothing concrete was done on this issue. The government wants to exclude an independent eye on the probe into black money for obvious reasons."
Subramaniam said the revenue secretary-headed special committee would be more effective than SIT. "The committee will not only supervise ongoing probe against suspected hawala dealer Hasan Ali Khan and Liechtenstein's LGT Bank account holders but all future black money cases," he said.
He said because the government did not disclose the names of foreign account holders in compliance with the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAA), there was a steady flow of information about such accounts held by others.
"The Foreign Intelligence Unit and other agencies are already looking into 37 such cases, both foreign and domestic black money accounts held by Indians. This is in addition to Hasan Ali Khan and the 16 LGT Bank account holders who are already under the scanner," he said.
Subramaniam opposed SIT on the ground that the members would not be able to proceed fruitfully against the offenders because the Prevention of Money Laundering Act provisions specify that statements given only to officials of ED were admissible in court. "If such statements were recorded by SIT members who are not part of ED, then it would not be admissible in court," he said. The arguments will continue on Thursday.
The revenue secretary will head the committee which will include directors of CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and chiefs of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Bureau (FIU), Foreign Trade and Tax division as well as deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"This committee will start work immediately. Every time any of the investigating agencies comes across some information about black money -- both abroad and domestic -- it will be shared with other agencies and investigation will be coordinated. The revenue secretary will submit periodic status reports to the court," solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam said.
During the last hearing, the Bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar had asked the Centre to respond to why an SIT not be set up to track black money as the government appeared to have done nothing concrete and why names of foreign bank account holders who had stashed black money there not be disclosed.
The Centre's pre-emptive measure of announcing a special committee did not cut ice with petitioner Ram Jethmalani, whose counsel and senior advocate Anil Divan said, "It is just old wine in a new bottle. All these agencies were already party to the petition and nothing concrete was done on this issue. The government wants to exclude an independent eye on the probe into black money for obvious reasons."
Subramaniam said the revenue secretary-headed special committee would be more effective than SIT. "The committee will not only supervise ongoing probe against suspected hawala dealer Hasan Ali Khan and Liechtenstein's LGT Bank account holders but all future black money cases," he said.
He said because the government did not disclose the names of foreign account holders in compliance with the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAA), there was a steady flow of information about such accounts held by others.
"The Foreign Intelligence Unit and other agencies are already looking into 37 such cases, both foreign and domestic black money accounts held by Indians. This is in addition to Hasan Ali Khan and the 16 LGT Bank account holders who are already under the scanner," he said.
Subramaniam opposed SIT on the ground that the members would not be able to proceed fruitfully against the offenders because the Prevention of Money Laundering Act provisions specify that statements given only to officials of ED were admissible in court. "If such statements were recorded by SIT members who are not part of ED, then it would not be admissible in court," he said. The arguments will continue on Thursday.
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