Training guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government at the Centre over disclosure of 500 new names of alleged black money holders in Panama papers, the Congress Party on Monday said the saffron outfit might be dealing the issue with a smile but in reality the revelation has made them uneasy.
"BJP seems to have a smile on their face but are uneasy inside, like they are hiding something," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
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Meanwhile, he also asserted that the grand old party dismisses the committee formed by the BJP to investigate black money related issues and demanded time-bound inquiry by referring the matter to the Supreme Court bench dealing with older cases.
"We outlaw the multi-departmental committee formed by the BJP which was set to investigate black money cases and demand that the Centre should order a time-bound inquiry and refer the case to Supreme court bench already examining the matter," he said.
Surjewala further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had links with several people, featuring in the list of the 500 disclosed names.
"Now how will PM investigate these new 500 accused, as many of the names are either Prime Minister's industrial partners or brand ambassadors," he said.
"How will our Prime Minister get things sorted in less span of time will only rebuild people's confidence in him, which as of now has be rattled with after these new disclosures," he added.
Earlier in the day, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has constituted a multi-agency group to monitor all information and collect further information in this regard, and warned of strict action against those whose accounts were found to be unlawful.
The multi-agency group will comprise various government agencies that deal with the subject such as CDBT and FIOs, among others and also representatives from the Reserve Bank. They will continuously monitor this. And, whichever accounts are found to be unlawful, strict action as per the existing law is going to be taken against them.
The Panama papers reportedly feature the names of over 500 Indians linked to offshore firms.
According to a report appearing in the Indian Express, the Panama papers feature names such as film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, to corporates including DLF owner K.P. Singh and nine members of his family, and the promoters of Apollo Tyres and IndiaBulls to Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani. Two politicians who figure on the list are Shishir Bajoria from West Bengal and Anurag Kejriwal, the former chief of the Delhi unit of the Loksatta Party.
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