Justice (Retd.) MB Shah (left) and Justice (Retd.) Arijit Pasayat who are on the Special Investigation Team
The investigation into who has hidden money in foreign bank accounts will be completed by March 31, the deadline set by the Supreme Court, said Justices MB Shah and A Pasayat in an exclusive interview to NDTV. Justice Pasayat stressed that "the biggest names will be caught. Whoever has looted this country will be caught and punished - economically and otherwise."
Justice Shah heads a special committee of former judges and regulators tasked by the top court to identify tax violators and draft a plan to recover the money from accounts in countries like Switzerland. "I am 100% confident that we will meet the March 31 deadline," he told NDTV.
After an angry Supreme Court alleged inadequate progress in the case, the government submitted a list yesterday of 627 Indians with foreign bank accounts to judges, who said the document would be passed on in a sealed envelope to Justice Shah and Justice A Pasayat, who is Vice-Chairman of the Special Investigation Team. The top court has made it clear that for now, the list will not be made public in compliance with India's tax treaties with other countries which demand no names be disclosed till charges are framed.
Amid reports that the list, which compiles Indians with accounts at HSBC in Geneva, does not include any big names, Justice Shah stressed, "I don't agree that the big fish will get away. We don't bother who is big. We treat them equally with the poorest persons of the country."
"At present, we are looking at 627 names. Apart from the 627, there are other names which we are trying to gather. It would be investigated, the report will be exhaustive," he said.
The Supreme Court has been monitoring the black money case since 2009 on the basis of a petition by lawyer Ram Jethmalani. It repeatedly rebuked the previous Congress government for inaction; this week, the new BJP government was reprimanded sharply, with judges saying, "We can't leave the issue of bringing back black money to the government. It will never happen during our time." The court then said it will rely on Justice Shah's Special Investigation Team to provide a much-needed impetus to the case.
As part of that effort, Justice Pasayat said ads will share an email address that can be used by the public to share "specific data, not speculation" about any leads they have on alleged black money holders.