No illegal money in foreign banks, claim BJP MPs

Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament will submit on Friday declarations to the presiding officers of their respective Houses of Parliament, stating that they do not have any illegal money stashed in any foreign bank or tax haven abroad.

BJP leader L K Advani had declared that all party MPs will submit declarations that they do not have any illegal funds in Swiss banks or tax havens.

The issue was discussed at the BJP parliamentary party meeting on Thursday.

"Our MPs have submitted their declarations to the Leader of Opposition of their respective Houses. Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley will submit these declarations from BJP MPs to the presiding officers of their respective Houses on Friday which is also the World Anti-Corruption Day," BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia said.

The party had framed a declaration which the party MPs had to sign. Advani had made this announcement at the culmination rally of his anti-corruption yatra at Ramlila grounds in Delhi on December 20.

BJP had also moved an adjournment motion in Parliament to discuss the black money issue. Since the parliamentary proceedings were disrupted over issues like FDI in retail and price rise for the first nine days, the adjournment motion and subsequent discussion on black money could not be taken up. It is now likely to be taken up on December 12.

The opposition party has been raising the issue of black money since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced after the polls that his government would take action on this issue within 100 days of coming to power.

The issue has also been in the news after the French government handed over names of nearly 700 Indians holding bank accounts in a Swiss bank. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also stated that his site is likely to reveal the names of Indian account holders within a year.