New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that the government could not quote a random figure on the black money as there were various figures quoted by different sources.
"As a Finance Minister, I need authentic figures… I don’t have the liberty to quote any random figure," said Mukherjee.
He further said that the government had shared information with other countries on the issue of black money.
The Finance Minister also commended Bharatitya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani for his rath yatra.
"I appreciate Advani's yatra if it has influenced tax evaders, if it has achieved in creating awareness about black money," he said.
Hitting out at Advani, the Finance Minister said that his interpretation was not correct as if the names were disclosed, the respective country would not share more information with us as we are treaty bound.
He further said that he was surprised as the demand was made by former Home Minister of the country.
"I would have ignored this if it was not asked by former Home Minister and Deputy PM of country, process is on with other countries as waiting for process to complete," he said.
The Finance Minister also said that there was no name of any Member of Parliament in the list the government had.
Reacting to his statement, Advani, who had earlier demanded a white paper on the issue of black money, said, "I have not got answers to the questions I asked. Please let us know if possible when you bring white paper on it."
Advani further said that those who had stashed money abroad must have done so for reasons other than evading tax.
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