“The government of India gave the entire list of HSBC accounts. There are about 627 accounts. We gave it in a sealed cover to the court”

Agencies/New Delhi

 The government yesterday handed a top court a secret list of 627 people suspected of stashing “black money” in foreign banks beyond the reach of tax authorities.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi complied with a Supreme Court order to submit the names of those being scrutinised for allegedly hiding funds in Swiss bank accounts.

“The government of India gave the entire list of HSBC accounts. There are about 627 accounts. We gave it in a sealed cover to the court,” Rohatgi told reporters outside the court.

Since coming to power in May, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has been under pressure to reveal the names, after pledging during the election campaign to “bring back black money within 100 days” of being elected.

The ruling party had accused the previous Congress government of failing to crack down on Indians parking billions of untaxed dollars abroad, an issue that has become a political lightning rod.

Rohatgi yesterday urged the court not to make the names public, saying this would place India in danger of breaching tax treaties with various countries.

The court ruled that the documents would remain secret, and would instead be handed over to a court-appointed special investigating team (SIT).

The court said the SIT would submit its status report by December 3 on its probe.

Rohatgi told the court that half of the account holders were Indian residents and the other half non-resident Indians and pertained to a period up to 2006. He said action was initiated, with some of having paid the taxes and others under investigation.

Rohatgi said the government had no intention to hold back any information or names it had in its possession and was open to inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax authorities or any other agency.

“Our only one request is: according to terms of the treaties entered by the government with other countries, there is a confidentiality clause. Nothing should be done that may impede our ability to get information from these countries and others.”

The court agreed. “We have no intention of causing any embarrassment to the government. We will send all these names to the SIT and ask them to proceed in accordance with law.”

The court took up the issue following petitions from anti-corruption activists who have waged an aggressive campaign to prosecute wealthy people with undeclared funds offshore.

The government on Monday handed the court the names of seven business people and one mining company facing possible prosecution for tax evasion as a result of its investigations.

But the government had argued against revealing the rest of the names until after its investigations found firm evidence that their accounts held black money.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday insisted that the government had nothing to hide, amid criticism that it was seeking to shield powerful people.

India’s rumour mills have been in overdrive about who may be on the so-called “black money list.”

Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based group that tracks money transfers, said Indians surreptitiously shifted $344bn overseas between 2002 and 2011, depriving India of vital tax revenues.

But that money abroad is a fraction of illicit funds and assets concealed in India, experts say.