NEW DELHI: The Centre is likely to file an additional affidavit in the Supreme Court in the case of black money Monday, explaining his "misunderstood" stand on not reveal the names of the account holders in foreign banks were not being prosecuted for any illegal under the law of income.
The Center will reveal the names of the three Indians in the affidavit against whom prosecution has been launched to hide the black money in foreign banks. Other names that have been making the rounds, including politicians linked to the previous UPA government, reveal only if the prosecution was launched against them.
The government feels that reveals all the names without the scrutiny of the illegalities committed by them would be a violation of the right to privacy as any Indian under RBI rules legitimately can deposit $ 125,000 in a foreign bank per year.
The court had, on a petition filed by senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, directed the government to form a task force to oversee senior intelligence work and law enforcement agencies to monitor the transfer of dirty money been outside India for depositing foreign banks.
By court order, the UPA government had revealed Jethmalani names of those Indians who had accounts in Liechtenstein bank, details of which were provided by the German government under the agreement to avoid double taxation.
The Narendra Modi government had taken a position in his earlier sworn statement, citing the German opposition to the disclosure of the names would not be able to violate the terms of the bilateral treaty to reveal the names of Indians holding accounts in banks foreigners unless the prosecution has been launched against them for commission of irregularities under the securities laws.
It was said that the Indian government was about to sign certain agreements to avoid double taxation with other major countries, including the US, and informed the court that these treaties were the source of information about Indians account assets abroad. If India would violate treaty obligations, information on Indians holding foreign bank accounts and stash money will dry up as other countries that refuse to share data on this score, he had said.
In its fresh affidavit, the government would ensure the court is ready and willing to reveal the names of the Indians who were recommended to stand trial.
Jethmalani had earlier opposed the government's position by saying he was filing an affidavit should have been filed by thieves who wanted to keep their relationship secret. He had also taken the position that accords on double taxation avoidance were a ruse for the government to push everything under the carpet.
