Black money names will embarrass Congress, says Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday defended the Narendra Modi government, saying it is not reluctant to reveal the names of Indians who have allegedly stashed black money in foreign bank accounts.

"The Congress will be embarrassed by the names when we reveal them in court," Jaitley said in an interview to a TV channel.

During the dinner with his council of ministers on Monday night, Modi is also reported to have said that his government would disclose names of some people undergoing probe for allegedly stashing black money abroad to the Supreme Court when it reconvenes after Diwali.

"Kuchh naam batayenge (we will reveal some names)," Modi is reported to have said at the hour-long dinner he hosted in his official residence on Monday, a day after the BJP's impressive victory in Maharashtra and Haryana.

In its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, the BJP had promised to bring back the money from foreign banks. Last week, however, the government told the Supreme Court that bilateral double taxation avoidance treaties stopped it from acting in the matter.

The Centre's statement in the Supreme Court created a massive controversy, with opposition parties led by the Congress accusing the Modi government of doublespeak in the black money issue.

In a press conference last week, Jaitley had rejected the opposition's allegations that the government had made a U-turn, saying the NDA government would not withhold any information, including the names of bank account holders, in cases where independent probe had been done by India.