Arvind Kejriwal fires at black money, draws denials

Arvind Kejriwal on Friday charged HSBC with money laundering and said top corporate entities including the Ambani brothers, Naresh Goyal, the Burman family and Congress MP Anu Tandon had deposited their unaccounted money in a Geneva branch. HT reports.Govt rubbishes claims

Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal on Friday charged international bank HSBC with money laundering and said top corporate entities including the Ambani brothers, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal, the Burman family that controls Dabur and Congress MP Anu Tandon had deposited their unaccounted money in a Geneva branch.

The allegations drew furious denials from all named by him, and criticism from ex-chief justice of India JS Verma, who said black money was a complex issue that couldn't be decided "on the streets".

Kejriwal told a news conference the government had not taken any action against "big names", who he said had stashed Rs. 6,000 crore of black money abroad. A government spokesman dismissed the allegations as old. IAC press release

"The government received a CD from the French government in July 2011 that contained the names of 700 Indians with bank accounts in HSBC's Geneva branch… After receiving the information, income tax raids were conducted on at least 100 of these account holders, but not on any big name," Kejriwal said.

Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference as Prashant Bhushan and Manish Sisodia look on. AP