September 17, 2026 02:31 pm (IST)
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Black money: Jethmalani writes strong letter to Jaitley
New Delhi, Oct 24 (IBNS): Supreme Court advocate Ram Jethmalani, who was also an ex-BJP member, has written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accusing him of not taking proper steps to bring back black money.
In his letter, Jethmalani has slammed Jaitley's stand that the names of black money account holders cannot be revealed as it breaches double taxation avoidance agreement with other countries.
The former BJP leader said that German authorities have agreed to share names with the Indian government without any cost or condition.
Launching a scathing attack, Jethmalani said that he suspects that Jaitley does not want the truth to come out.
"I strongly suspect that your conduct shows that you too like many others do not want the truth to come out," he wrote.
"You are taking the nation to suicide and exposing Modiji to the charge of misguiding the nation. This might be your method of taking revenge for his snatching office which you thought belonged to you," Jethmalani wrote in his letter.
Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said that the Congress, as a political party, would not confront any embarrassment if any big name from the formation appears on the list of Indians who hold illicit foreign bank accounts.
“Whatever name is there will embarrass the individual, the party won’t be. These are individual transgressions,” Chidambaram told in an exclusive interview to NDTV.
Asked about the names on the list, he said: “I did not ask to see nor was I shown the names. So whose name is there I don't know.”
The ex-FM said that the purpose of current Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s comment was to move from “black money to black mail”. He said, “Just release the name”.
Last week, the Centre told the top court that it cannot yet publicly disclose a list handed over by Germany in 2009 of Indians with accounts in the tax haven of Lichtenstein.
The Centre told the top court that tax treaties forbid the disclosure of names till charges is framed in court.
Jaitley stressed that the tax treaties that compel confidentiality at this stage of investigation were signed by the Congress government in 1995.
The Supreme Court has set up a special team to work out how to recover black money. The case was brought to the top court by Jethmalani in 2009. He also accused Congress-led previous government’s treaty that it is causing the hindrance.
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