<p>Amid the brewing controversy over naming persons with undeclared money stashed in foreign banks, the Congress on Friday said it would not be embarrassed if a “big name” from the party makes it to the dubious list.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Breaking his silence on the issue, former finance minister P Chidambaram distanced the Congress from the row, dubbing black money as “individual transgressions”. “You cannot link the Congress to individual leaders with Swiss accounts,” he said in an interview to NDTV.<br /><br />“Whatever name is there will embarrass the individual, the party won't be. These are individual transgressions,” said Chidambaram, a senior spokesperson of the Congress.<br />In the final days of the UPA government, the Finance Ministry helmed by Chidambaram had submitted a list of 18 Indian nationals having bank accounts in European tax haven Liechtenstein, to the Supreme Court. <br /><br />However, the UPA government had requested the apex court to keep the list confidential as it had been obtained after giving a sovereign undertaking (to the provider) to keep it so till the charges are proved.<br /><br />A fresh controversy erupted this month after the Modi government reiterated the UPA stand and urged the court to keep the list secret. <br /><br />The Congress launched an offensive, taunting the Modi government for reneging on its poll promise to bring black money back to the country within 100 days of coming to power.<br /><br />Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had hit back at the Congress saying it would be embarrassed if the list of black money holders was made public as a ‘big name’ from the opposition party figured in it. “The purpose of Jaitley’s comment was to move from black money to blackmail, just release the name,” Chidambaram said.<br /><br />The Congress has said the government must steer clear of “vindictiveness” and “selective leakage” of names and release the entire list.<br /><br />There are reports that the “big name” referred to by Jaitley was a minister in the UPA government.<br /></p>
<p>Amid the brewing controversy over naming persons with undeclared money stashed in foreign banks, the Congress on Friday said it would not be embarrassed if a “big name” from the party makes it to the dubious list.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Breaking his silence on the issue, former finance minister P Chidambaram distanced the Congress from the row, dubbing black money as “individual transgressions”. “You cannot link the Congress to individual leaders with Swiss accounts,” he said in an interview to NDTV.<br /><br />“Whatever name is there will embarrass the individual, the party won't be. These are individual transgressions,” said Chidambaram, a senior spokesperson of the Congress.<br />In the final days of the UPA government, the Finance Ministry helmed by Chidambaram had submitted a list of 18 Indian nationals having bank accounts in European tax haven Liechtenstein, to the Supreme Court. <br /><br />However, the UPA government had requested the apex court to keep the list confidential as it had been obtained after giving a sovereign undertaking (to the provider) to keep it so till the charges are proved.<br /><br />A fresh controversy erupted this month after the Modi government reiterated the UPA stand and urged the court to keep the list secret. <br /><br />The Congress launched an offensive, taunting the Modi government for reneging on its poll promise to bring black money back to the country within 100 days of coming to power.<br /><br />Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had hit back at the Congress saying it would be embarrassed if the list of black money holders was made public as a ‘big name’ from the opposition party figured in it. “The purpose of Jaitley’s comment was to move from black money to blackmail, just release the name,” Chidambaram said.<br /><br />The Congress has said the government must steer clear of “vindictiveness” and “selective leakage” of names and release the entire list.<br /><br />There are reports that the “big name” referred to by Jaitley was a minister in the UPA government.<br /></p>
