Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today claimed the roots of black money were in Mauritius and talks were on with that country to get concrete information.
"The root of black money is in Mauritius, with whom we have a treaty. Talks are on... So that the Mauritius root can be traced," Sibal told a press conference here.
Asked whether the government could bring back black money within a time frame, he said, "How can we set a time frame so long we don't get complete information about it. We don't have a magic wand like the phrase in a fable - khulja sim sim - and it [black money] returns."
"No one knows about the exact amount of black money [in foreign banks]. Even LK Advaniji does not know the exact amount as he had once made an assessment of Rs 22 lakh crore black money deposited in foreign banks. Now people say it is Rs 700 lakh crore," Sibal said.
"So we have to first assess how much black money is in the banks having secrecy laws. How to make agreements with such nations and the Congress-led government has taken several initiatives to get information... In future we will make treaties so that we can get information how much black money is with them," he added.
Giving details on how the government had proceeded to get black money information from other countries, Sibal said last year investigating agencies had seized some amount of black money and got names of 18 persons.
He said a committee would give advice as to how to deal it more effectively.
