Centre submits black money list with 26 names to apex court

The Centre on Tuesday submitted before the Supreme Court a list of  26 names and documents of account holders of the Liechtenstein Bank in Germany in a sealed cover, a week after facing rebuke for not disclosing over three years details of persons being probed for stashing away black money.

Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran submitted before a three-judge bench, presided by Justice H L Dattu, that the information relating to these 26 individuals had been received from the German Tax department in 2009.

Of the 26 names, investigation against 18 individuals were over and prosecution had been launched against 17 by the Income Tax department, while one person had expired, he said.

Parasaran added that in the remaining eight cases, no evidence of tax evasion or wrongdoing had been found, and hence no action was being contemplated.

Among those against whom prosecution has been launched are Mohan Manoj Dhupelia, Ambrish Manoj Dhupelia, Bhavya Manoj Dhupelia, Manoj Dhupelia and Rupal Dhupelia—all from the Ambrunova Trust and Marline Management.

While revealing the information after the court’s rap on the last date, the Solicitor General pointed out that there could be a problem in getting information from foreign authorities in future as they were meant only for taxation purposes.

Senior advocate Anil Divan, who appeared for PIL petitioner advocate Ram Jethmalani submitted that the government was obligated to share all other details regarding the bank accounts with them. The bench said it would discuss the content of the documents and decide the issue regarding the disclosure of details on May 1.

Making a brief interjection, Jethmalani himself submitted that he could state on an affidavit the names of those who have bank accounts in Switzerland and were involved in money-laundering. He said reports suggested Indians alone have parked around Rs 19 lakh crore black money abroad.

Others who faced prosecution for having account in Germany are four members of the Manichi Trust—Hasmuk Ishwarlal Gandhi, Chintan Hasmukh Gandhi, Madhu Hasmukh Gandhi and the late Mirav Hasmukh Gandhi.

The government said prosecution has been initiated against Chandrakant Ishwarlal Gandhi, Rajesh Chandrakant Gandhi, Viraj Chandrakant Gandhi and Dhanalaxmi Chandrakant Gandhi from the Ruvisha Trust.

The names of Arunkumar Ramniklal Mehta and Harshad Ramnikal Mehta from the Dainese Stiftung and Dryade Satiftunf Trust were also mentioned in the list.

K M Mammen from Webster Foundation, Arun Kochhar from Urvashi Foundation and Ashok Jaipuria from Raj Foundation also face charges.