Hyderabad: The Centre is taking stringent measures to unearth "ill-gotten wealth", Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said, dismissing opposition criticism that the NDA government has not succeeded in bringing back black money stashed abroad as promised in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
"See the steps we have taken. Treaties that were entered into during the Congress regime have come in the way of getting back black money. International treaties...they have secret clause.... They were agreed upon during their (Congress) regime. We are working on that now," Naidu said.
"Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) took up the issue in G-20 (summit) itself and then secondly, stringent laws have been made. There was criticism that the law is very harsh on black money," he said.
Alleging that the Congress-led government did not act in time when black money was being stashed abroad, Naidu said "smart people, who have siphoned off money, have moved the ill-gotten wealth abroad".
"Black money (is accumulated) both internally and externally.... Black money is generatedbecause of corruption in the system. See the transparency we brought in with regard to coal and spectrum allocation. More than 3.10 lakh crores (rupees) have been saved for exchequer.
"And now, mines and minerals are also being auctioned in a transparent manner. Every step is being taken. We will pursue all those cases vigorously," the senior BJP leader said.
"Had the Congress party taken action during earlier years when black money was being stashed and we were campaigning against it? (L K) Advaniji himself had taken it up as a issue. They (Congress) did not act," he said.
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