Advani apologises to Sonia for black money allegations
By ANIFriday, February 18, 2011
NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani has apologised to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for a party-appointed task force report, which had alleged that she and her late husband former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had accounts in Swiss banks.
The report of the task force, which was appointed by the BJP to unravel the amount of black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks and ways to bring it back, had alleged that Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were among the Indians, who held Swiss bank accounts.
The Congress President had written a letter to Advani in this regard.
The BJP veteran in his reply to Sonia Gandhi’s letter expressed regret for using her name and that of her late husband in the task force report.
Commenting on Advani’s letter to Sonia Gandhi, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said: “The letter of L K Advani to Sonia Gandhi expressing regret over the pain caused to her on allegations of foreign bank accounts in her family members names has to be seen in the proper context.”
Earlier on February 1, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders had released a booklet ‘Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens’, the second report of the task force appointed by the BJP.
Highlighting the losses incurred by the state exchequer due to the black money, Advani, along with the other senior BJP leaders, on February 1 urged the government to take immediate measures to reclaim the money from banks based abroad.
The four-member task force comprising S Gurumurthy, former IB director Ajit Doval, Professor R Vadiyanathan and advocate Mahesh Jethmalani claimed Rs 25 lakh crore is parked by Indians abroad in Swiss banks and other tax havens and that this money is from corruption and crime. (ANI)
