| (Government working under control of Smt. Sonia Gandhi can't make real efforts till doubts about Sonia Gandhi and Raahul Gandhi's alleged account is not examined by the Supreme Court: Milap Choraria) No real effort made to trace black money: SC TNN | Mar 30, 2011, 01.07am IST NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday had an unusual outing in the Supreme Court — it was complimented by one bench for "more than satisfactory" probe into the 2G spectrum scam while another bench rapped it for hedging investigations into the source of black money.
A bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar, after studying the voluminous documents given by the ED on interrogation of Hasan Ali Khan, who is suspected to have laundered money, was unsparing in its criticism of the agency's approach.
"The entire last night we went through your (ED) status reports. Except two or three bald questions, there is no consistent effort made to find out the source of money," the bench told solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam, who argued for the ED.
On the probe into the source of Rs 43 crore black money held by 18 Indians in LGT Bank, the bench said: "In 2008, when you came to know that certain Indians who are amenable to your jurisdiction had bank accounts abroad, instead of talking of double taxation treaty, mutual agreement treaty, one simple question you could have asked these individuals — where did you get this money. This question you have not asked."
Subramaniam had on Monday claimed before the court that ED was on the verge of a "substantial breakthrough" because of Khan's seven-day custodial interrogation. Why delay on foreign funds front?: SC Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Mar 29, 2011, 12.55am IST NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's suggestion on Monday that the government reveal the identity of Indians who had stashed black money abroad coincided with the Income Tax department launching prosecution against two persons who held accounts in Leichtenstein's LGT Bank.
The identity of at least two people will be out soon as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had assured recently that the names of LGT Bank account holders would be made public after the I-T department proceeded against them in court.
German authorities had handed over names of 26 Indians who held accounts in LGT Bank. The I-T department had initiated action relating to 18 resident Indians who kept Rs 43.83 crore in the bank and demanded Rs 24.26 crore as tax from them.
After perusing the Enforcement Directorate's status reports on probe into black money and Hasan Ali Khan, a bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar told solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam that the court's suggestion to probe implications on national security had not been looked into.
"The national security aspect still remains unanswered," the bench said. But the SG said that was the sole consideration in the entire investigation. "When we look into the status reports, it is difficult for us to keep calm and quiet. We would like to know, specifically from you, what progress has been made in the investigations, particularly with regard to national security angle," it said.
Noticing several names mentioned in the status report and their operations, the court asked, "Why were these agencies sleeping over the matter all these years." The lethargy in probing the impact on security made the court reiterate its earlier stand — setting up a multi-discipline task force for a comprehensive probe. | 
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