Jethmalani seeks SIT probe into Swiss bank a/cs

Former Union law minister Ram Jethmalani on Thursday demanded setting up of a special investigation team to probe unaccounted money of Indians, estimated to the tune of $1500 billion, lying in Swiss and other foreign banks.

"When an SIT can be formed to probe Gujarat riots, then why not have another one for probing unaccounted wealth?" Jethmalani asked.

If this money is brought from foreign banks to India, every family in this country would get nearly Rs 2-and-a-half lakh, national debt will be liquidated and for 30 years continuously the people would get a tax free budget, he claimed.

"There is no attempt to recover this money and this is becoming more and more irrecoverable. Even if the money have been shifted from one bank to another, past records of these banks would show that the money was lying with them," he said.

Jethmalani said he and some others had filed a petition in the Supreme Court to seek recovery of this money, which is likely to come up for hearing in July but the Union Government had filed an affidavit saying that though it had received information about these accounts, it could not disclose them as it was given under the condition of confidentiality.

"This story of confidentiality is a fraud and lie," Jethmalani alleged.