Update: Govt hands over list of 627 account holders to Supreme Court in black money case

The government on Wednesday submitted in the Supreme Court a list of 627 names, holding black money accounts in foreign banks, revealed to it by the French government.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi handed over two sealed envelopes to the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu.

Rohatgi said that half of these account holders are residents of the country while the other half are Non-Resident Indians (or NRIs). These accounts pertain up to 2006.

The AG said that action had been initiated into the matter. Some of the account holders had paid taxes while others were under investigation, he said.

Rohatgi also told the court the Income Tax Act had been amended to extend the limitation period up to March 31, 2015, for recovering taxes from these account holders. Under the earlier provision, a limitation period for recovery of taxes was six years, which in these cases came to an end in 2012.

The SC directed that the sealed envelopes containing 627 names, including correspondence with the French government, be given to Special Investigation Team (SIT) Chairman Justice MB Shah and Vice Chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat.

The apex court said the SIT, which was set up by it on July 4, 2011, will move into the matter in accordance with the law.

All the 627 accounts are at HSBC Bank in Geneva - the details of which the government got from its French counterpart.

These are also known as stolen data and when the government approached the Swiss authorities for assistance, they refused to help, saying that they did not deal with stolen data.

However, HSBC Bank said that if the domestic authorities got an NOC from the account holders, then it would share the details. As a consequence, about 50-60 account holders gave their consent with NOC.

Rohatgi told the court that the government's only request was that nothing should impede in getting information from these countries and others on foreign accounts in future.

Directing further hearing of the matter to December 3, the SC said that the SIT team will submit its status report on the steps taken by it in pursuance to the list of the 627 account holders.

On Tuesday, the government was directed by the apex court to furnish in a sealed envelope the list of all individuals and entities in its possession who have accounts in overseas banks, legitimate or otherwise.

The directive to this effect came a day after the government gave the court the names of seven individuals and one company, alleging they had funds in bank accounts abroad over which proceedings had been initiated for tax evasion.