Advani's motion on black money in LS defeated

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Part (BJP) MP LK Advani's adjournment motion on black money in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday was rejected by a voice vote. Advani had moved the motion on black money and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government's alleged failure to act again the tax evaders.

The motion was put to vote after a debate that lasted almost six hours even as the Samajwadi Party staged a walkout.

The voting took place after Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee replied on the motion. Mukherjee said that that the government could not quote a random figure on the black money as there were various figures quoted by different sources while responding to Advani's charges that the Government was not making public the names of 782 Indians who had opened accounts in foreign banks and kept their black money amounting to an estimated Rs 25 lakh crore.

"As a Finance Minister, I need authentic figures. I don’t have the liberty to quote any random figure," said Mukherjee.

He further said that the government had shared information with other countries on the issue of black money but could not reveal the names of the tax defaulters due to various treaties that the Government had entered into with the foreign banks.

The Finance Minister also appreciated Advani for his rath yatra against black money.

"I appreciate Advani's yatra if it has influenced tax evaders, if it has achieved in creating awareness about black money," he said.

Hitting out at Advani, the Finance Minister said that his interpretation was not correct as if the names were disclosed, the respective country would not share more information with us as the Government was treaty bound. He added that revealing names could violate the understanding with a sovereign government and

could hurt the Indian businesses as some of them could be genuine investors abroad.

He further said that he was surprised as the demand was made by Advani, who has held the post of the home minister of the country.

"I would have ignored this if it was not asked by former home minister and deputy prime minister of the country, process is on with other countries as waiting for process to complete," he said.

He also said that there was no name of any Member of Parliament in the list the government had.

Reacting to his statement, Advani, who had earlier demanded a white paper on the issue of black money, said, "I have not got answers to the questions I asked. Please let us know if possible when you bring white paper on it."

Advani further said that those who had stashed money abroad must have done so for reasons other than evading tax.

Moving the adjournment motion, Advani brought to notice that this was the first time that black money was being discussed in Parliament.

Advani claimed that due to no action against the culprits, India has become a soft state. "We should recognise that because we haven't taken any action against the guilty in the black money cases, we are being seen as a soft state," he said.

Calling black money a part of corruption, Advani said, "The effects of corruption is the most devastating in the developing world. Corruption is a key element to inefficiency."

Quoting a report of the Global Financial Integrity on black money, Advani said, "Indians have an amount of Rs 25 lakh crore black money is in Swiss banks."

Appealing to the government to give details on the names given by French government, Advani said, "It will be shameful if we come to know about these through some whistleblower like Julian Assange of Wikileaks did some time back."