By WBRi IBNS Newswire on 19 January 2011

http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/11881911-bjp-slams-cong-over-black-money-reshuffle

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IBNS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday slammed the Centre over the black money row demanding that it disclose names of the people allegedly involved in money laundering operations through offshore accounts.

The party also hit out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over Wednesday’s cabinet reshuffle, saying it has failed to tackle corruption.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, “Some ministries have been changed, but the Prime Minister has not dared to drop any of the ministers.”

“There has only been a transfer of ministers from one office to another and the reshuffle has completely failed to get the message across in the fight against corruption,” he added.

Commenting over the issue of offshore bank accounts, the party accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of not only being “involved in corruption” but also “trying its level best to protect the corrupt”.

The Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday expressed its disapproval over the government’s reluctance to divulge details of Indian money in foreign banks.

Lauding the statements, Hussain said, “BJP welcomes the unprecedented steps taken by the Honorable Supreme Court regarding disclosure of the names of corrupt persons as also the questions put before the Central government.”

Refusing to accept the government’s contention that it could not make public the names of foreign bank account holders on international propriety grounds, a SC bench said: “It is a pure and simple theft of the national money. We are talking about mind-boggling crime. We are not on the niceties of various treaties.”

Demanding that the Centre reveal the names of the accused, the BJP said the Congress was  “having some sort of fear in doing so”.

The government has refused to share the information in public domain, stating that it would violate a sovereign agreement between India and Germany.

The government has maintained that making the names public would violate Clause 26 of the DTAA and also hamper negotiations with Switzerland and a dozen other countries on amending the existing DTAAs to provide for exchange of information related to bank accounts.

Under the clause, the information submitted is privileged and details of the informant, its recipient and that of accountholders cannot be revealed to any third person except share it with the court or investigating agencies.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, a Swiss parliamentary committee okayed a revised tax treaty between India and Switzerland. This treaty, once approved by the Swiss Parliament, is expected to pave the way for the Indian government to access Swiss bank data on tax evaders’ accounts.