Sunday, December 16, 2012

Kejriwal reads out ‘Swiss bank account numbers’ of Ambanis

Mumbai: Ignoring denials issued previously by the Ambanis, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday reiterated allegations that they held secret Swiss bank accounts and revealed their alleged account numbers.

“A few days ago, I exposed that Anil and Mukesh Ambani have Swiss bank accounts. They have not admitted their fraud. I have the Swiss bank account numbers of Anil and Mukesh Ambani here with me. Shall I read them?” Kejriwal asked a packed hall at the Times of India Literary Carnival on Sunday. “5090160983 and 5090160984, HSBC Bank,” he said.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s latest salvo, a spokesperson for Anil Ambani rejected the allegations. “Mr Anil D Ambani had no bank account with HSBC in Geneva. It is regrettable that such baseless allegations are being made at the behest of vested interests,” the spokesperson said.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) also rejected the allegations and reiterated its November statement.

Black money: I-T dept not acting against rich, alleges Kejriwal
Mumbai: Reacting to Arvind Kejriwal’s fresh allegations on Sunday, an RIL spokesperson said, “We had already issued a statement on November 9, 2012 that categorically stated that neither Reliance Industries Limited nor Mr Mukesh Ambani have or had any illegitimate accounts anywhere in the world.”

Last month, Kejriwal had alleged that the Ambani brothers had Rs 100 crore each in Swiss bank accounts while their mother Kokilaben also had a Swiss bank account which had no balance.

Kejriwal and his colleague Prashant Bhushan had also accused multinational bank HSBC of running a huge hawala operation to launder thousands of crores of illicit money belonging to leading industrialists such as the Ambanis, the Burmans of Dabur, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways, Yashovardhan Birla and Congress MP Annu Tandon. All of them had denied the allegations.

Kejriwal said the income tax department had received the Swiss bank details in 2011 but had chosen not to act against the big fish on the list. “The papers are with the I-T department,” he said. “They (the Ambanis) could have been prosecuted but nothing has been done,” he said.

Earlier, Kejriwal had demanded that the government should reveal the names and amounts of all 700 on the list and explain why it has adopted a different method of investigation against high-income individuals while conducting raids on smaller businessmen.

He had said the government’s statement released a day after he made his allegation in November had proved that the list was authentic and that the tax department had decided to proceed selectively on the list handed over by France.

Citing the example of the US and the UK governments, Kejriwal had questioned the government's reluctance to demand information related to Indians who held secret accounts in foreign banks.

While Kejriwal had made the allegations against HSBC and top Indian businessmen at a news conference last month, this time he chose to make his revelations at a gathering of common citizens at the Times Literary Carnival, who roared and whistled their approval and practically drowned out the numbers which the activist-turned-politician read out.

He has made a string of allegations against politicians, political parties and businessmen in the run-up to the launch of his political party, Aam Admi Party, hoping to cash in on the anti-corruption sentiment in the country.
Courtesy:
Shalini Umachandran TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/12/10&PageLabel=3&EntityId=Ar00303&ViewMode=HTML

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