The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money to “look into” a plea seeking a probe into an alleged Rs 6,000 crore scam involving a branch of Bank of Baroda in Delhi.
A bench led by Justice Anil R Dave asked the SIT headed by former Judge MB Shah to apprise the court on the progress made in the probe in the scam by May 11.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for petitioner journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, contended that more than Rs 6,000 crore have been siphoned off through banking and hawala channels.
“It was used by black money hoarders to remit huge sums of money abroad on pretext of imports which were fictitious and non-existent,” she added. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Special Investigation Team, said that the probe team is already seized of the matter and is looking into it.
He said that fifth probe report on black money has been filed by Special Investigation Team in sealed cover and court should consider all the reports. Meanwhile, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar said that the public interest litigation (PIL), filed by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani, can now be disposed of since the government is implementing the recommendations it has received from the Special Investigation Team.
He added that government has already enacted a law on black money. But Dave said that the court should continue monitoring the progress of the inquiries being made. “The court should consider all the reports and ask the government to accept the recommendations because it is affecting the economy of the whole country. Around trillion dollar black money is being investigated,” he said. The court will hear the matter further on May 11.
( Source – PTI )
