Govt to share black money details, but no names

Under pressure from parliamentarians, top finance ministry officials have told a parliamentary panel that it will share the status of prosecution and amount recovered from around 700 secret overseas bank accounts. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

Under pressure from parliamentarians, top finance ministry officials have told a parliamentary panel that it will share the status of prosecution and amount recovered from around 700 secret overseas bank accounts.

The government, however, made it clear that the names of the accounts holders cannot be revealed as there are binding agreements. The ministry officials pointed out that under tax treaties, names can only be disclosed at the time of filing of prosecution proceedings.

The Income Tax department recently got a list of around 700 Indian entities that had accounts in Geneva. The information came after the government entered into agreement to unearth black money accounts with select foreign nations.

In the meeting of parliamentary standing committee on finance, finance secretary RS Guajral and director enforcement Arun Mathur, initially said information cannot be revealed. But BJP's SS Ahluwalia and BJD's Bhartruhari Mahtab pointed out the opposition will make it a big issue in Parliament.