SC raps government for witholding disclosure of Swiss bank account holders

The Supreme Court today asked the central government what difficulty it had in disclosing the names of people who have stashed away huge amounts of money in Swiss and German banks in Liechtenstein principality in Europe.

The apex court bench of justice B Sudarshan Reddy and justice S S Nijjar asked what the privilege was in not disclosing the names of the account holders in the banks.

"It is not a case of tax. The issue involved is of serious nature. Keep aside all the things. Let us consider about the persons (those disclosed by the German authorities)," the court told solicitor general Gopal Subramanium.

The court said if the government did not have the names it was a different matter, while simultaneously suggesting that when the government had the names why these could not be made public.

At this juncture, the solicitor general asked for adjournment of the hearing as he needed to seek instructions from the government.

The matter will taken up for further hearing on Wednesday.