SC asks govt. to name all black money account holders

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Union Government to release all the names of the people who have stashed their black money in accounts abroad. This order came after the latter had released the names of three account holders on Monday.

The government has till tomorrow to disclose the names to the apex court.

Earlier today, Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal reportedly said that he would file an affidavit in the Supreme Court with the names of at least more such people who have illicit wealth stashed away abroad. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of harbouring and protecting such people.

"If BJP discloses all black money holders' names, then who will give them money to fight elections in some states and buy MLAs in others?," he tweeted.

On Monday, the government in an affidavit to the Supreme Court had named three people who had accounts in Swiss banks with black money - Pradip Burman, former executive chairman of Dabur; Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S. Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd.

The government is building pressure particularly on Switzerland, seeking details of Indians who have parked unaccounted for money in the Alpine country's highly secretive banks. It has quickly implemented a Supreme Court directive to set up a high-powered special investigation team, headed by retired judge MB Shah, to look into the issue.

While there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had parked USD 462 billion in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008.