Annu Tandon. Annu Tandon.

India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused the UPA government of suppressing information against some of India's top corporate honchos despite getting the details of their black money stashed in the Geneva branch of leading foreign bank HSBC . Citing a list of black money hoarders provided by France to the Indian government, Kejriwal listed the status of their accounts in 2006.Kejriwal attacked President Pranab Mukherjee, who happened to be the finance minister when the French government handed over the CD with the details of alleged black money hoarders in July 2011, for not acting on the information and trying to save some of the biggest industrialists of the country, including the Ambanis.While accusing the corporate bigwigs of the country of evading tax by stashing their black money in their foreign accounts, Kejriwal accused HSBC of aiding hawala in India."The present CBI director once said that more than $500 billion of Indian black money was stashed abroad. A major chunk of this money is believed to be lying in Swiss banks in Switzerland. Would this money every come back to India? Developments of the last few years have given a ray of hope that if Indian government acted tough like its US counterpart did a few years back, India also might get access to the list of those having their undeclared accounts abroad. However, Indian government seems to be more interested in helping the guilty rather than punishing them," Kejriwal said."In July 2011, Indian government received a list of around 700 people having bank accounts in HSBC Geneva. The list contains bank balances of these people in 2006," Kejriwal said, saying that a senior Congress leader provided him the vital information, which he verified through various other sources.According to Kejriwal, the Ambanis alone had held nearly Rs 3,000 crore in 2006, including in their individual accounts as well as in the group company and its shareholders.- Rs 100 crore- Rs 100 crore(Reliance group company) - Rs 2,100 croreRs 500 crore(senior official of Motech Software in 2006) - Rs 125 crore(Sandeep Tandon's wife) - Rs 125 crore- There was no balance on the given date(Jet Airways chief) - Rs 80 crore(three family members holding major stakes in Dabur) - Rs 25 crore(chairman of Yash Birla group) - No balance on the dateKejriwal alleged that the Income Tax (I-T) Department initiated action against some 100 people who figured towards the bottom of the list of black money hoarders. The then finance minister, however, did not allow I-T officials to act against the Ambanis, Naresh Goel, Burmans and the Birlas, he alleged.He further claimed that Mukesh Ambani met Mukherjee and requested him not to raid Reliance Industries and that he was willing to pay taxes to "buy peace". He also alleged that HSBC has been openly and brazenly running a hawala racket in India.Kejriwal alleged the government was trying to save big fishes. He said the government got raided three people in Delhi. All of them were small fries and they admitted that they had accounts in HSBC Geneva. Their statements to I-T department were shocking, as it showed how all this was done.In the wake of his revelations, Kejriwal demanded that the top officials of HSBC be arrested under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He said that the operation of HSBC in India should be immediately suspended.Citing example of the United States, Kejriwal said HSBC should be asked to provide complete list and bank statements of all Indians who have had their accounts in its Geneva branch in last 10 years. He said they should be arrested if found guilty."I would like to ask Pranab Mukherjee under which provision of IT Act has he dropped criminal proceedings against those people. I am disgusted of Indian government. They are encouraging criminals," Kejriwal said, demanding investigation against Ambanis, Burmans, Birlas and others by honest I-T officers.The activist-turned-politician alleged that Annu Tandon was close to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and happened to be the part of his core group. Sandeep Tandon was not alive anymore. He was an income tax officer who raided Reliance Industries and later joined Reliance, Kejriwal claimed, adding, that he happened to be close to Mukesh Ambani.Slamming the Manmohan Singh government, Kejriwal said it was the biggest danger to the economic sovereignty of India. "When the US found out about the black money operations in UBS, they arm-twisted all the banks and got the list of names of all the Americans who had accounts in Swiss banks," he said.Veteran Supreme Court lawyer and IAC member Prashant Bhushan said, "Today's expose is only the tip of the iceberg. The sheer scale of cover-up and the criminal modus operandi is massive.""The Supreme Court has made serious observations on this issue. It says Union of India is unable to answer any action taken. It also said that how UBS was given licence to operate in India. The question that arises is that on the account of getting FDI can the concerns of the country can be put aside," Bhushan said.He said the German Bank was giving the information, but the Indian government was reluctant. "The apex court dismissed the government arguments. The agreement between India and Germany does not remotely concern about the names of Indians with accounts. After this, the Supreme Court asked to set up an SIT. Till now the government has not done anything. It is contempt," he added.