Patna, Oct. 12: Demanding a white paper on the steps taken by the UPA government in bringing back black money stashed away in foreign banks in the winter session of Parliament, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani today alleged that the Centre had done precious on this front.
Addressing a news meet here today before setting out for Ara on the second day of his Jan Chetna Yatra, Advani said: “The government should make public the names of the persons who have stashed money in foreign banks. At present, the names have been given to the Union government by the foreign countries. The Centre has reportedly given the names to the income tax department with the instruction not to make the names public. But there is no need to shield anybody because illegal money deposited in foreign accounts were acquired by practising corruption, taking kickbacks and committing crime.”
Advani said the present value of India’s total illicit financial flows is at least US$462 billion or approximately Rs 25,00,000 crore.
Even though he cannot vouch for this figure, Advani said, a book entitled Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System by Raymond W. Baker has estimated Indian money stashed in foreign banks at US$ 1.4 trillion.
“This means that almost three quarters of illicit assets comprising India’s underground economy, which has been estimated to account for 50 per cent of India’s GDP, end up outside the country. The Swiss banks themselves put it at US$1.4 trillion with India topping the list. This amount is about 13 times the national debt of India,” Advani said.
Advani conceded that he was not in a position to vouch for the figures quoted in the report. “But the Centre should come out with a white paper on the issue, especially when countries like France and Germany have brought back money stashed outside their country,” he said.
Advani said when he first raised the issue in 2009, Congress leaders had ridiculed him asking why the BJP had not done so when it was in power at the Centre.
“The Congress leaders ignored the fact that the Swiss banks had strict rules when we were in power at the Centre and they refused to bend them. They opened up only after the economy of USA and European countries faced a crisis,” he said, recalling that the Prime Minister had made a statement that he would do something on this account within 100 days.
Taking a dig at the alleged corrupt former ministers of the UPA-II, Advani said: “Right from 1947 I do not recall any Union ministry in which so many ministers have gone to jail. There is a joke that the cabinet meetings will be held in Tihar jail.”
Advani bypassed questions on if he was the prime ministerial candidate of the NDA in the next parliamentary elections. “The party decides on this issue. Even in 2009 the party decided it. The BJP does not take decisions on the basis of aspirants,” he said.
The BJP veteran stressed that he resented the perception that he was undertaking this rath yatra because he wanted to be a prime ministerial candidate. “The issue of corruption has been haunting the people of India for the past 18 months,” he said.
Dismissing questions related to his reported difference with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Advani said Modi had welcomed his rath yatra in his blog.
The BJP patriarch also expressed confidence about a Jan Lokpal bill presented in the winter session of Parliament.
Later in the day, Advani addressed public meetings in Ara, Buxar and Ramgarh.
