Prosecution against 17 in black money case
The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it had initiated prosecution against 17 persons for allegedly stashing away black money in foreign banks but refused to reveal their names citing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, however, told the Bench of Justices S Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar that the Centre had no difficulty in disclosing the names of six persons against whom the prosecution had already been started for depositing money with the Liechtenstein Bank in Germany.
“We have initiated prosecution against 17 persons. As far as, six individuals are concerned, we have already started prosecution, so their names would automatically be revealed,” he submitted.
He referred to the DTAA to submit before the Court that the names of the persons, who had deposited money abroad, were not to be disclosed. The apex court, however, asked the law officer to inform it about the legal provisions putting a bar on the Centre from revealing such names.
Meanwhile, the Centre told the Court that it had raided Mumbai’s Lilawati Hospital in response to a separate petition filed by Harsh Raghuvanshi alleging that trustees Prabodh Mehta, Rashmi Mehta, Chetan Mehta and Bhavin Mehta were involved in money laundering.
Earlier, at the beginning of the hearing, Delhi Police’s counsel informed the court that they had registered an FIR with Vasant Vihar police station on the complaint of IIT Delhi Professor S K Dubey, one of the petitioners in the black money case.
Dubey, through an affidavit filed by IPS officer Jasbir Singh, had alleged that Prabhakant, an Enforcement Directorate officer, threatened him.
