No real effort made to trace black money: SC

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday had an unusual outing in the Supreme Court — it was complimented by one bench for "more than satisfactory" probe into the 2G spectrum scam while another bench rapped it for hedging investigations into the source of black money.

A bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar, after studying the voluminous documents given by the ED on interrogation of Hasan Ali Khan, who is suspected to have laundered money, was unsparing in its criticism of the agency's approach.

"The entire last night we went through your (ED) status reports. Except two or three bald questions, there is no consistent effort made to find out the source of money," the bench told solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam, who argued for the ED.

On the probe into the source of Rs 43 crore black money held by 18 Indians in LGT Bank, the bench said: "In 2008, when you came to know that certain Indians who are amenable to your jurisdiction had bank accounts abroad, instead of talking of double taxation treaty, mutual agreement treaty, one simple question you could have asked these individuals — where did you get this money. This question you have not asked."

Subramaniam had on Monday claimed before the court that ED was on the verge of a "substantial breakthrough" because of Khan's seven-day custodial interrogation.