NEW DELHI: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has filed an interim petition in the Supreme Court which is believed to be taken up on Wednesday by the apex court. The petition seeks court intervention to obtain bank statements for last ten years of all illegal foreign bank accounts of Indians and proper investigation into the transactions.
The application gains significance amidst media reports that Pradip Burman, whose name was disclosed by the government on Monday, had allegedly not disclosed a deposit of Rs 18 crore in the Swiss Bank account to Income Tax authorities, and had operated the account through phone and fax. Burman had said he had nothing to hide, and he had shared all the details with tax authorities.
Demanding stringent action against the guilty, Kejriwal and his lawyer Prashant Bhusan have requested the apex court to obtain ten years bank transactions of all illegal foreign accounts and initiate proper investigation in a time-bound manner.
In its petition the duo said that statements made by the three individuals who have admitted to holding illicit foreign bank accounts before the income tax department shows how easy it is to open a foreign bank account with black money, sitting at home in India.
They also want the apex court to direct the government to immediately stop the hawala route and initiate prosecution against banks which have so far been involved in soliciting illicit money and transferring it abroad through hawala channels.
It may be recalled the AAP leaders had released a list of individuals with black money stashed in foreign bank accounts in a news conference two years ago. The list had named Burman family’s involvement apart from names of leading industrialists of the nation.
