New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Shourie claims the Union Government deliberately sent forged documents to Switzerland on foreign exchange violator Hasan Ali.
Addressing a press conference on the issue of bringing the black money allegedly stashed away in Swiss bank accounts by Indian nationals, Shourie blamed the government of holding back crucial information from the Supreme Court.
"The forged documents were sent deliberately. The same government suppressed vital information in the Supreme Court. The government claimed that it got the information that Ali has $8 billion and it sent Rs 78,000 crore income tax demand. The government said all this in its affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court," said Shourie referring to the case of Hasan Ali Khan.
Khan has been accused of stashing away billions in Swiss banks according to the Finance Ministry that had mentioned his name to the Supreme Court as one of three Indians who had deposited their black money abroad.
"In March 2007, the government was told that the documents do not meet the requirements. Since then there was no response from the Indian government. How come the government did not do anything? Why was this vital information suppressed from the Supreme Court? It's been more than two years that the government knew that the documents were rejected on the grounds of forgery. Still it hid this information from the court," claimed Shourie.
"This is the government which let Quattrochhi (Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrochhi) go. They let him withdraw the money from his bank account," he added.
"We are being viewed as a banana republic. I congratulate CNN-IBN and appeal that they keep pursuing this matter," he said thanking the channel for exposing that the government had sent forged documents to Swiss authorities.
Reacting to the revelations Congress spokesperson said, "I do not have full knowledge on this matter. It is possible that the Indian Government had sent the documents which they (the Swiss) supplied. Home Ministry will be in a better position to answer this."
Spokesperson of Ministry of Justice, Switzerland, Falco Galli on Monday, told CNN-IBN that documents submitted by the government in 2007 in connection with the case were forged.
Galli says the Swiss government had asked India to provide the right documents and a confirmation that the case against Khan is a criminal one.
Khan is allegedly worth $8-9 billion, according to the police in India.
He has parked most of his money in banks in Switzerland through money-laundering. Khan, a resident of Pune, has been in hiding for about a year now.
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