Toughening its stand, the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate black money said on Thursday it will go after all offenders, whether “big or small”.
The SIT is gathering more names other than the over 600 account holders in HSBC Bank, Geneva, given by the government to the Supreme Court for investigation. The SIT will submit its report to the Supreme Court by the first week of December. Its first report was submitted in August this year.
However, it said the confidentiality of account holders on the black money list will not be violated as there are international treaties involved. “Before us, nobody is big, nobody is small. Everybody is equal. Whoever has looted this country will be caught and will be punished, economically, and otherwise also. That we assure,” SIT vice-chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat said. Justice M.B. Shah, heading the SIT, said as Supreme Court judges they had decided a number of cases against big personalities. “We won’t bother who is big. We will treat them equally with the poorest person of the country,” he said.
Justice Shah assured there would be more prosecution, “within a reasonable time”, of people who have stashed black money.