TOI
New Delhi, May 2: Under pressure to bring back the black money stashed in Swiss bank accounts, the Centre on Saturday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on the issue.
The Union government told the Supreme Court that it was doing everything on the issue of retrieving over Rs 70 trillion ($1.4 trillion) in black money believed to be stashed away in foreign banks by rich Indians.
The government said this in an affidavit filed in the apex court in response to a lawsuit by former union law minister Ram Jethmalani, former Lok Sabha general secretary Subhash C Kashyap and former Punjab Police chief KPS Gill, which had sought the court's direction to the government to retrieve the unaccounted money.
In its affidavit, the government termed the lawsuit as "politically motivated" and questioned the timing of its filing, in the midst of the general elections, and sought its dismissal.
The Centre also told the apex court about the re-opening of the assessment of suspected cases. It further stated that it was monitoring the economic trend.
Famous for its secret accounts, Swiss banks have highest deposits by Indians. The revelation came after Swiss banks were forced by the US and other Western countries to disclose the details of their nationals who maintain accounts with them.
The issue was raked up by the main opposition party, the BJP and was used as their main poll plank in the ongoing General elections.