No new details in govt's black money list: SIT chief Shah

On a day when the Central Government submitted its list of black money account holders in foreign banks to the Supreme Court, head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case Justice MB Shah said that there is no new detail in the report that has been submitted by the government."I don't think there is anything significant in the report. The list is the same as before. It was known to us. We have to question the people in the list," Shah said adding that there is no new outcome of the investigations that have taken place in the past few days.He also said that all the facts in the report were already known to the SIT. "All these facts that have been revealed were already known to the members of SIT. We should be able to file a satisfactory report in time," he added.

Also read: Black money: Is SC just playing to public gallery?Shah asserted that the probe is underway and filing a report will take time. "The probe is a difficult one. there is no eye wash. The report will take time. We have already filed the first report in August. I'm hopeful that we should be able to file the final report by next year," he said.He also backed the Centre by saying that he did not feel that the government was trying to protect anyone who is named in the list.Earlier in the day, the Central government led by Narendra Modi submitted a list of names of 627 black money account holders to the Supreme Court. The court refused to open the sealed envelope saying that only the SIT Chairman and Vice Chairman can open the sealed envelope containing the names of account holders.The list has names, account numbers and the amount of money in each account. The apex court has now directed the SIT to submit a status report by November 30.Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that the list has been provided by the French government of those who have accounts in the HSBC Bank, Geneva. "The deadline for completion of all investigations into the black money cases is March 31, 2015," he said. The Attorney General added that the maximum people in the list are residents in India and rest are NRIs.The court has also allowed the Centre to put forth its grievances regarding various treaties with foreign countries before the SIT.The list comes a day after the Supreme Court pulled up the Centre and asked it to reveal names of all foreign account holders by Wednesday. The court had said that Special Investigation Team (SIT) will investigate black money and not the government.Hitting out hard at the government, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday said, "You do not do anything. Just pass information of account holders to us and we will pass order for further probe. You do not have to take interest in people having foreign bank accounts, the Special Investigation Team will take care of it.""We can't leave the issue of bringing back black money to government. It will never happen during our time. Why are you providing protective umbrella to foreign bank account holders," the court said.