India’s Supreme Court took the matter of hundreds of billions of dollars of Black Money stashed into foreign bank accounts into its own hands as the government has repeatedly failed to take any action stalling the case.The Indian government led by the Congress Party has been repeatedly blasted by the Supreme Court for not acting against corruption matters.Recently the Court in an unprecedented move took over the supervision of the CBI in 2G Telecom Scandal Case Investigation.Note CBI is under the Home Ministry and like other investigations was being tardy to take action government ministers.The 2G Telecom case has resulted in top ministers and corporate CEOs being jailed with prospects of more being convicted.
India’s Supreme Court has become a schoolmaster for the errant Indian investigative agencies which keep showing glaring incompetence and reluctance to go after top offenders.Note it was only after Supreme Court castigated the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the agencies swung into action taking Hasan Ali and Tapuriah into custody and attaching their properties.But the government has refused to learn and is slowly losing its power and authority to the judiciary and the civil society.Remember the government was brought to its knees by the Anna Hazare agitation which received mass support from the Indian Middle Classes.The Congress Party had to eat humble pie and drafted civil society members to draft the anti corruption Jan Lokpal Bill.The Supreme Court has appointed a 2 member SIT led by Shah and Reddy and asked the government committee to report to it.This is the second time the Supreme Court has taken over the investigation responsibilities for the failure of the government to act.In its judgement the SC said that Black Money cannot be taken lightly and it reflects the weakness of the Indian state that such massive amounts had to be stashed abroad.
No faith in govt, SC appoints special team to trail blackmoney
The Supreme Court today appointed a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former apex court judge B P Jeevan Reddy to monitor the investigation and the steps being taken to bring back blackmoney stashed in foreign banks.The bench said that it was a serious lapse on the part of the government which will have implications on the country’s external and internal security. The bench said the issue of black money has to be taken with a degree of seriousness and the state is primarily responsible to make all efforts to bring back into the country such wealth and punish people who have stashed away money in foreign banks.
