Congress has no right to talk about black money: BJP

The party said the Narendra Modi government, as its first action on bringing back black money, constituted the SIT to probe the issue and is making attempts to get information about offenders from various sources and make it public.
  
"The previous UPA government initially opposed the constitution of SIT to investigate black money. An idea given by the Supreme Court in 2011 was vociferously opposed by the then Solicitor General. In November 2013, UPA filed an application in the court asking the Supreme Court to modify its earlier order that appointed SIT. The SIT was asked to investigate the Hassan Ali case and other cases," BJP Secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
  
"UPA, as late as in November 2013, still hoped and tried that the SIT would not be formed. This petition was dismissed by Supreme Court. Even on May 8, 2014, the UPA in its last days filed a review petition, among other things, to cancel important Supreme Court orders which constituted the SIT," he said, adding the previous government made "all-out efforts to stall the probe into the issue".
  
He said immediately after the Modi government took over on May 26, it constituted the SIT on May 28. Thereafter, it provided all names of foreign account holders to the SIT and started meetings with Swiss authorities for more information.
  
Congress has attacked BJP, saying it made "tall" promises on black money during Lok Sabha polls campaign and vowed to disclose "55,000 accounts" but "even Rs 55 has not come in five months" after it assumed power.
  
Sharma hoped that the authorities looking into the black money issue would complete the assessment of the report of account holders by November 30 and the Income Tax department would complete its report by March 31, 2015.
  
The BJP leader said the Supreme Court also made certain remarks against the Congress regime in its orders on the black money case which "speaks volumes about the intentions of the previous government in investigating the serious issue".
  
"And now Congress has no moral right to talk on the issue," he said.
  
Sharma further claimed that after coming to power, the BJP dispensation has shared all information with the SIT on black money and has in fact stepped up efforts to obtain more and more information in this regard from abroad before making it public amid fears among the internationally banking community on the breach of the confidentiality clause.

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Black money case: SIT invites information from public

The panel comprising of retired judges and regulators will soon release an email id where anyone can give information, sources say.

Anybody having credible information on black money can approach the SIT. The team will investigate that information, but it needs to be an authentic one. And no one will be spared.

However the panel will meet on Thursday to work out details of its inquiry, a day after the government submitted a list of 627 foreign account holders to the Supreme Court.

The court has set a deadline of March next year to complete the investigations into whether these account holders have violated tax laws. The court said the list will be given to the top officials of the SIT.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper

I-T department to prosecute about 300 foreign bank account holders

Officials said the department has informed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to go into the issue, to allow it to start the "first step of prosecution" under two sections of the Income Tax Act.
   
Prosecution is being sought under Section 277 (false statement in verification) and 276 D (failure to produce documents) so that the department can share information with other enforcement agencies like the ED and CBI, they said.
  
The sources said the department has already realised Rs. 200 in taxes and penalties from some of these account holders who have accepted to holding these accounts abroad.  There could be another Rs.200 crore to Rs.300 crore in taxes and penalties that could be realised from the others, they said.
  
"The list of 627 Indians submitted to the apex court today has close to 300 people against whom prosecution action can be launched soon. Basic prosecution, at least under select sections of the I-T Act. While some 120 cases are already under prosecution these fresh individuals and entities can also be booked based on prima facie evidence gathered by tax sleuths," sources said.
  
They said this will enable the SIT to hand over some vital information to agencies like Enforcement Directorate and CBI who could take action under their mandates and the laws that they enforce.
  
International and bilateral treaties allow a member nation to share such information obtained by one agency with others only at the stage of prosecution or when the matter is in the purview of courts of the land.
  
"The SIT has agreed to this and we expect to file new prosecutions sooner than later. In these 300 cases the I-T department has some evidence," they said.
    
Officials said these cases pertain to the years 1999-2000 and they will get "time barred" by March 2015 and hence there is "no time to loose" for the authorities.
    
Sources privy to the contents of these lists said there are a number of "established" cases where the foreign account is genuine and has been reflected in tax statements filed by the individual or entity.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper