New Delhi:
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Centre to probe black money stashed by Indians abroad held its first meeting today during which the roadmap on how to proceed further was decided.
Sources privy to the meeting said that the SIT, headed by former Supreme Court Judge M B Shah, decided to examine whether some of the black money cases could be put on fast-track.
After nearly two-hour long deliberations, the Finance Ministry came out with a brief statement saying that "during the meeting, detailed modalities of proceeding further with the Supreme Court mandate were discussed and the roadmap decided."
Without elaborating on the roadmap, the statement said that the next meeting of the SIT will be convened shortly to take stock of the follow-up of the decisions taken today.
However, sources in the meeting said that probe agencies like Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and other financial probe agencies were asked to submit the number of black money and money laundering cases pending before them and the progress of the probe.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Shah, 75, and attended by former Supreme Court Justice (retd) Arijit Pasayat as its vice chairman and top officials of 11 high-profile agencies and departments including Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
According to sources, framing of policy for tackling the menace of black money and the status of ongoing probes and available inputs with all the departments in this regard was discussed.