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Three years on, govt gets reports on black money

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Friday filed an application in the Supreme Court , saying it cannot disclose details of foreign accounts held by Indians which are governed by bilateral double taxation avoidance treaties.Petitioner and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani said this is an attempt by Narendra Modi government to shield those who stashed black money abroad.Jethmalani said such a plea could be made only by crooks who have illegally parked their ill-gotten money abroad and not by a democratically elected government.The apex court agreed to hear Centre's application on October 28.Attorney general Mukul Rohatagi said the government cannot reveal names of those foreign account holders against whom no prosecution is launched.The attorney general told the apex court court that revelation of names of Liechtenstein Bank account holders has been seriously objected to by the German government. The government is on the verge of signing important double taxation avoidance treaties with many countries, including USA in December, the attorney general added."If names of those not prosecuted are given out, then it will dry up the foreign government sources which provide the information about Indians stashing illegal money abroad," Mukul Rohatagi said.Black money: Switzerland agrees to help India with time-bound informationOutside the court, Jethmalani took a strong critical view of the finance minister and attorney general for making such an application to the court and said it could help only the criminals.Jethmalani told the court that he has written a letter to the Prime Minister on this issue conveying his strong views against the application and requesting the PM to take it as his last wishes.The attorney general said Ram Jethmalani's criticism of the finance minister was unwarranted and unfortunate.