Black money: Govt. needs legal evidence of bank accounts, says Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the new names added to a list of Indians with accounts at HSBC in Geneva will be investigated as part of an expansive probe into the existence of black money abroad.

"The details that have come out today are ones the government already has. The question is not about the names, but we need the evidences about the accounts in addition to the stolen data," he said.

Jaitley further said that assessment of 350 account holders' has been done and added that the rest would be completed by March 31.

"In the last seven to eight months, a speedy investigation has been done on the black money issue. 350 account holders' assessment is done, the rest will be completed by 31st March," he said.

Earlier in December, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had submitted a report to the Supreme Court which revealed that persons on the HSBC list held Rs. 4,479 crores in Swiss banks.

In an official statement released by the SIT, it had said that out of 628 names on the HSBC list received from France, 201 are either non-residents or non-traceable, leaving the cases of 427 persons as actionable cases.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Centre to ensure that the ongoing probe on those suspected of stashing black money in bank accounts abroad is completed by March 2015.