SC questions govt decision to grant licence to UBS

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre's decision to grant licence for retail banking to Swiss bank UBS whose credentials have come under scrutiny in black money cases.

A bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said the government has failed to explain why the bank, whose licence was withhold on the grounds of bank's suspect credentials, was allowed to operate in the country.

"The Centre has been unable to answer any of the questions regarding its past actions and their implications, such as the slow pace of the investigation or about grant of license to conduct retail banking by UBS by reversing the decision taken earlier to withhold such a license on the ground that the said bank's credentials were suspect," the bench said.