The government will pass on the names of those said to be holding black money overseas after the Supreme Court dismissed its concerns over making the disclosures. The court demanded that it be given the list in a sealed envelope by 10:30 am on Wednesday. Flatly refusing to relent on the terms of the 2011 order in which it had asked for the names, the court also took umbrage at what it regarded as the government showing “interest“ in people on the list and holding out a “protective umbrella“ for them.
“We want all the names, not one or two or three. Give us the entire information,“ Chief Justice of India HL Dattu told Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, who asked for a few days to produce the names. But Dattu cited the retirement of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai on Wednesday to demand them in a day.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government would do as asked and pass on the list of account holders that was submitted to the court-mandated special investigation team (SIT) on June 27. “The government has absolutely no difficulty in giving it... to the court“ because it wants to get to the root of the matter, he told reporters on Tuesday. The government had made public the names of three entities on Monday--Dabur promoter Pradip Burman, bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya and Goa miner Timblo Pvt. Ltd. There has been unconfirmed speculation about various other names figuring on lists provided by other countries.
The top court also asked the government to distance itself from inquiries into the matter, suggesting that it may direct the Income-Tax Department, the Central Bureau of Investigation or the SIT to look into the information and monitor progress. The court shot down a plea by the government to modify its earlier order to keep out details relating to accounts that were found to be legal after investigations or even those in which inquiries were still underway.
“Why are you bothered? Why are you taking that sort of protective umbrella for these persons? Why do you bother with investigations? You give us the information.We will pass it on to the SIT.Let the SIT take it to its logical end,“ Dattu told Rohtagi.
The government had argued on Monday that it could only reveal the names of those people and entities against whom it had gathered enough evidence to warrant a prosecution. Otherwise, it could be in violation of confidentiality clauses of bilateral treaties under which the information was provided.
The Supreme Court said the government shouldn't be concerned about that.
“You requested foreign countries for the information. You created the SIT which is a good thing. Now pass it on to the SIT.Don't do anything else. You don't have to do anything. (You) don't have to take so much interest in these persons,“ Dattu said. “Why are you taking the trouble of investigations? We will ask (some agency), we will take responsibility. We will investigate.“
The attorney general tried to persuade the court to appreciate the government's position. “If we do not investigate, who will?“ Rohatgi said.
Having campaigned vigorously against corruption and crony capitalism, the Modi government had made pursuing black money a priority, constituting the SIT on May 27, its first day in office.
Rohatgi insisted that the government had already shared the information with the SIT. All investigations were being carried out under the SIT's supervision, he argued. But the court did not come round.“Share it with us.What is the difficulty?“ the bench sought to know.
The attorney general also raised the concern that confidentiality guaranteed by the government to another sovereign state under double taxation agreements may be breached.
“In order to ensure that such information comes, the government of India has to give certificates of confidentiality,“ he said. Dattu replied: “Don't give such certificates of confidentiality.“
Rohtagi then told the court that it would have to take the responsibility of the government not being able to sign any such agreements in the future as well. The court said that it would deal with any such problem when it arose. “We are not that helpless. We don’t want money to go out of this country,” Dattu said.
At the start of the hearing, Rohatgi sought to build a strong case against making public those names that had been cleared after investigations or those that were still being examined. Double-taxation agreements only provide for making names public after prosecution has been launched against entities in a court of law, he said. “The very purpose of this petition will be defeated unless information comes,” he pointed out. “Unless we give a certificate of confidentiality, there will be no agreements.” He said that the government wasn’t looking to protect anyone. “We are not interested in holding back any names. This government constituted the SIT in one of the first steps it took soon after taking over. We are not being selective, we are not disclosing some names and not others.” Not every account was illegal and disclosing the names of those with who had committed no wrongdoing would be against all norms of privacy, he argued.
The government’s top law officer said the government had shared all the information with the SIT received from France, Germany and elsewhere. “The SIT is the overarching body supervising all such investigations,” he said.
The Supreme Court was emphatic about its oversight role. “Unless we monitor, nothing will come out of this,” Dattu said. In Germany’s case, that country was interested in sharing information, but the Indian government didn’t take it up on the offer, Dattu said.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal meanwhile filed an application naming Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Naresh Goyal and Yashovardhan Birla among others as holding accounts abroad and demanded a probe to verify this. He also sought to know whether these persons figured in the government list.
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