162 BJP MPs give declarations on black money abroad

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to step up pressure on the government to take action on the black money issue, BJP MPs on Friday gave declarations to presiding officers of both Houses that they do not possess illegal wealth abroad.

BJP leader LK Advani, who led a delegation of party leaders to the presiding officers, said the BJP wanted to know from the government what steps it had taken to bring back wealth stashed away in tax havens abroad, as had been done by other countries.

"All our party MPs today made a declaration to their respective Presiding Officers in both the Houses of Parliament. Our 112 MPs in Lok Sabha and 50 MPs in Rajya Sabha had gone to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Chairman Hamid Ansari to present their respective declarations," said Advani. Only Ram Jethmalani could not make it as his daughter was critically ill in Mumbai, he said.

He said several countries like the US, Germany and France have forced tax havens to hand over their illegal funds to them. "When there is a debate on black money in Parliament, we will ask what India achieved in this regard," he said. The BJP-sponsored adjournment motion, on which Advani is likely to initiate the debate, is expected to come up on Monday in the Lok Sabha.

He said countries like Switzerland have changed their laws and passed the Restitution of Illegal Assets Act, 2011, which has enabled many nations to get their illegal wealth back. "This issue of black money in foreign banks and particularly money earned out of corruption or other illegal means started in the West mainly after 9/11 (incident) when America came to know that a lot of money that was used for terrorism was of this nature," he said.

On the Congress demand for declaring the legal foreign bank accounts, he said, "if someone has legal accounts, then they will give such details in their declarations."