<p>Stating that the quantum of black money had not been specified by anybody, the minister said: "Various figures are being floated - the first thing I have decided to do is to appoint a group to quantify the black money." <br /><br />Replying to a debate on the budget for fiscal 2011-12 in the Lok Sabha, he said varying estimates put the quantum as ranging between $462 billion to $1.4 trillion but the figures were not reliable. <br /><br />Mukherjee said the government has two figures on black money -- one by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taskforce that has put the amount between $500 billion to $1.4 trillion and the other by the US-based Global Financial Integrity that estimated that Indians had stashed $462 billion in foreign banks between 1948 and 2008. <br /><br />The finance minister said the government had started a legal proceeding to book the culprits. <br /><br />"Any amount of anxiety is not going to bring the black money back. We live in a society which is governed by rule of law and we shall have to proceed as per the law," he said. <br /><br />He added that the government just cannot hang anybody, no matter how serious the crime. </p>.<p>"First, we shall have to go with legal framework and we have done it," he said. <br /><br />Referring to an incident of early 1970s when he was a deputy minister for industrial development in the Indira Gandhi ministry, Mukherjee said political compulsions generally give rise to corruption and black money. <br /><br />"In my younger days being overwhelmed by these types of sentiments, I conducted some raids. It was a very fruitful raid," he said, hitting back on opposition leaders who accused the finance minister of going soft on black money issue. <br /><br />"One tonne primary gold was discovered. But later on with the change of government, I was accused of causing emergency excesses and put in the dock," he added. <br /><br />Meanwhile, a court Friday granted conditional bail to Hasan Ali Khan, accused of stashing away $8 billion in foreign banks. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has failed to establish a case of money laundering against him, the court said.</p>
<p>Stating that the quantum of black money had not been specified by anybody, the minister said: "Various figures are being floated - the first thing I have decided to do is to appoint a group to quantify the black money." <br /><br />Replying to a debate on the budget for fiscal 2011-12 in the Lok Sabha, he said varying estimates put the quantum as ranging between $462 billion to $1.4 trillion but the figures were not reliable. <br /><br />Mukherjee said the government has two figures on black money -- one by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taskforce that has put the amount between $500 billion to $1.4 trillion and the other by the US-based Global Financial Integrity that estimated that Indians had stashed $462 billion in foreign banks between 1948 and 2008. <br /><br />The finance minister said the government had started a legal proceeding to book the culprits. <br /><br />"Any amount of anxiety is not going to bring the black money back. We live in a society which is governed by rule of law and we shall have to proceed as per the law," he said. <br /><br />He added that the government just cannot hang anybody, no matter how serious the crime. </p>.<p>"First, we shall have to go with legal framework and we have done it," he said. <br /><br />Referring to an incident of early 1970s when he was a deputy minister for industrial development in the Indira Gandhi ministry, Mukherjee said political compulsions generally give rise to corruption and black money. <br /><br />"In my younger days being overwhelmed by these types of sentiments, I conducted some raids. It was a very fruitful raid," he said, hitting back on opposition leaders who accused the finance minister of going soft on black money issue. <br /><br />"One tonne primary gold was discovered. But later on with the change of government, I was accused of causing emergency excesses and put in the dock," he added. <br /><br />Meanwhile, a court Friday granted conditional bail to Hasan Ali Khan, accused of stashing away $8 billion in foreign banks. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has failed to establish a case of money laundering against him, the court said.</p>