Govt law officers misled SC on black money: Swamy to PM

NEW DELHI: The Janata Party today claimed government law officers have "misled" the Supreme Court on the issue of black money stashed in banks abroad.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party chief Subramanium Swamy expressed surprise at the stand of the government in the apex court that the names of Indians having illegal bank accounts cannot be made public due to a bilateral agreement with Germany to keep the information confidential.

"From my inquiries it appears that there is no such bilateral agreement and therefore it appears that your law officials have misled the Supreme Court in this matter," Swamy said.

Praising Singh for obtaining the names of Indians having accounts in Liechtenstein Bank from the German government, Swamy requested the prime minister to look into the issue and ensure that the names are made public and the guilty punished.