‘Names will affect genuine interest’
Emphasising that revealing names of those who had stashed black money overseas would affect the commercial interests of genuine businessmen, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, “Shall I publish names, give names?
We will get publicity. I have to ascertain (details). Some of them may be genuine account holders who have got the permission of RBI. They may be investors.”
Alluding to the difference in quantum of money deposited abroad and promising to bring a white paper on the issue, Mr Mukherjee said that he has commissioned three economic think tanks namely NIPFP, NIFM and NCAER to arrive at a dependable figure. “I will bring white paper. I will bring all information”.
Earlier, while moving the adjournment motion, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani attacked the government on the issue and demanded that the government reveals the names of Indians who have stashed away black money in tax havens abroad. In addition, he demanded that the government come out with a white paper on steps that have been taken so far to bring back to the country black money.
“Reveal the names you have. It will be a humiliation if we don’t get to know them from our Prime Minister or our finance minister and come to know from Wikileaks as Julian Assange has said he has the names and would reveal them in 2012,” said Mr Advani.
He noted that while the name of Hasan Ali has come out in connection with black money, he asked, “Why is the government not disclosing the names of others?” As for Hasan Ali, Mr Advani called upon Mr Mukherjee to disclose details concerning his case as well as well as his links with others.
The BJP leader also wanted to know why the government is not revealing the 16-18 names of persons it has got who have stashed away unaccounted for money in banks in Liechtenstein. He further said that France has the names of 600 to 700 Indians with money stashed away abroad illegally and wanted these revealed too.
Speaking at length on the menace of black money, among those who heard part of the speech of the chairman of the BJP parliamentary party was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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