Govt will chase blackmoney offenders till the last a/c: FM

Facing all round attack on its promise of quickly bringing back blackmoney stashed abroad, Government today said it will proactively chase the offenders and promised not to rest till the last account is identified.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley disclosed in Rajya Sabha that 250 account holders out of a list of 627 names provided by HSBC, Geneva, have admitted to having accounts but the almost the entire opposition walked out saying they were "disappointed" with his reply to the debate on the issue.
Responding to the repeated demand for disclosure of the names of blackmoney holders, the minister said premature disclosure would only help the offenders.

"The question is not whether to disclose but when and how. We have to disclose the names in a very prudent and thoughtful manner," he said defending the government stand in view of the treaty obligations that revealing of names will result in non-cooperation by foreign governments.
"If we indulge in populist, adventurist stance, this will only help the account holders," he said adding the government will not follow a suicidal course.
He, however, deftly sidestepped the Opposition criticism made during the day-long debate in both Houses of Parliament and its demand for an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "failure" to fulfil his election promise of repatriating the blackmoney from abroad in 100 days and distributing Rs 15 lakh to each citizen.