NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday announced to bring out a white paper on black money before the end of Parliaments budget session on May 22.
It is in the final stage of drafting and will be tabled not on the last day of the session but much earlier, he said while responding to BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani in his 70- minute reply to the two- day debate in the Lok Sabha on the Finance Bill that was later passed by voice vote.
The quantum of the black money will not be listed in the white paper, but it will provide all other information, Mukherjee said, while pointing out that three institutions assigned the task of estimating it within 18 months will be giving their study reports in July- August and he will share them with the House.
As regards Advanis demand to disclose names of those Indians that have been received from the foreign governments for having money in banks in their countries, he said they have no objection in disclosing the names when such persons are prosecuted and so the government will make public their names when the prosecution starts.
The problem, however, is with regards to the raw information of only names received since the concerned Indian authorities have to first ascertain legality or illegality of the funds they had abroad as it has to be ascertained whether they took legal permission or the Reserve Banks approval, Mukherjee added.
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