The Hindu : National : No progress in bringing back stashed money, says Advani

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National

No progress in bringing back stashed money, says Advani

New Delhi: Accusing the government of lacking political will to check corruption, BJP leader L.K. Advani on Sunday claimed that there had been “no movement” in bringing black money stashed in Swiss banks despite an assurance by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the 2009 Lok Sabha poll campaign.

Mr. Advani also favoured ratification of the U.N. Convention against Corruption.

“I feel sorry to note that India is one of the 14 countries which have not ratified it out of the 140 countries who are signatories to the U.N. Convention,” the BJP leader said in his latest blog.

JPC demand

He repeated the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the string of scandals that have surfaced lately. The BJP has been stalling Parliament proceedings since November 10 demanding a JPC probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

“During his poll campaign, the Prime Minister had promised to take action with regard to Indian wealth in foreign banks in the first 100 days of his tenure. More than 500 days have elapsed, and yet there has been no movement in this regard. The reason is utter lack of political will,” he said.

He said a task force set up by the party this year has revealed that “estimates of Indian wealth stashed in tax havens overseas vary from $500 billion (Rs.25-lakh crore) to $1.4 trillion (Rs.70-lakh crore).”

According to the Swiss Bank Association, Indians have topped the list of black money depositors at the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), Mr. Advani added.

He said BJP had raised the issue of India's “enormous wealth” stashed in countries like Ivory Coast, Liechtenstein and Switzerland and made it an issue in the last Lok Sabha polls. — PTI

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