High-level panel to probe black money

The government has set up a high-level, multi-disciplinary committee to probe into the whole issue of black money, the Supreme Court was informed today.

In its submission in relation to a Supreme Court directive that the government set up a Special Investigation Team to investigate the menace of black money, the centre said the panel has already been constituted.

It would be headed by the revenue secretary with one nominated member each from the Reserve Bank of India, Central bureau of Investigation, and the Enforcement Directorate, according to the submission.

The panel will consult secretaries of home, defence and foreign affairs on important issues, the government informed the apex court.

The SC had in many cases voiced concern over the lax manner in which the centre is going about action on the black money issue and had warned that it will constitute a Special Investigation Team if the government continued to soft pedal on the issue.
 
The court also was critical of the government's focus only on one individual - Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan - and the lack of progress in other cases.

The government had also failed to reveal the names of offenders despite the Supreme Court's expressed concern over its reluctance to divulge details of Indian money stashed away in foreign banks.
 
The government has all the while been trying to hide under the confidentiality clause and not reveal the names of the accused. The court, however, was not ready to buy the government's arguments.

"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," the court observed.