Disclosure of black money list may prove a damp squib

The hue and cry over disclosure of names appearing in the list of 26 people pertaining to accumulation of black money, provided by the Liechtenstein LGT Bank and submitted to the Supreme Court, may dissipate if the government decides to do so at this juncture.

A finance ministry source said “the whole effort may prove to be a damp squib, considering the fact that investigations had not thrown up any big or influential name as yet”. They said the available information did not indicate any significant person from the political or business arena.

Many in the list were middle-level businessmen who went to East African countries like Kenya and Uganda and had not reported their income, said an official, adding that some of them had come back to the country. The amount involved were also not more than a few crores in most of the cases, he said.

The I-T department has segregated the names from the list, city-wise, and has provided the details to its offices concerned for further investigation and initiation of the process to recover due tax. The official said Kolkata, Mumbai Ahmadabad and Delhi were among the cities to which the names had been traced.

“A few of them are in India and some could not be found. It is difficult to get to the exact identification, as there are cases in which there is no clarity of name and address. You can only presume,” he said. The official added that the process for recovery of tax dues was going on and the department was acting on the information provided for recovery.

The government had furnished, in a sealed cover, information supplied by the German government on black money deposited by 26 Indians in Liechtenstein Bank. It, however, had said such names could not be made public as it impinged upon the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Germany.

The court has been told that making the names public would not only violate the DTAA norms but also hamper negotiations with other countries on amending the existing DTAAs to provide for the exchange of information related to bank accounts.

Under the DTAA norms, the information submitted is privileged and details of the informant, its recipient and account holders cannot be revealed to any third person except courts or investigating agencies.

The government, however, is under tremendous pressure from all quarters, including the Opposition parties and the apex court, to disclose the names.