No cover-up in disclosing Swiss bank accounts: Antony

Defence Minister A K Antony today said there will be "no cover-up" in disclosing names of people who have Swiss bank accounts as the Government is committed to bring back all the money stashed abroad.

"Our government is committed to bring all that money and find out the truth...We are determined to find out the truth. That effort is on and we will not cover-up anything," he told reporters at the NCC Republic Day camp.

Antony was responding to queries about reports suggesting that black money related to defence deals was lying in banks in Switzerland.

Refusing to say anything more on the issue, he said the government's intentions have already been made clear by the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister had said there was "no instant solution" to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks and that information with Government cannot be made public due to treaty obligations.

His comments came close on the heels of the Supreme Court pulling up the government for withholding information on black money stashed in foreign banks, saying it is not just limited to tax evasion but a "mind boggling crime" amounting to theft and plunder of national wealth having security ramifications.

The apex court made the observation while hearing a petition filed by noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who along with some retired bureaucrats and police officers, approached it seeking directions to the government to take steps to bring black money to the tune of one trillion dollars stashed in foreign bank back to the country.

The Centre's contention before the court is that it was a case of tax evasion and it cannot make public the names of Indian account holders.