SIT on black money to meet on June 4

The first high-level meeting of the Special Investigation Team on the issue of black money and special probe into cases of unaccounted funds stashed away abroad by Indians will be held in New Delhi on June 4.

Officials said the Department of Revenue under Finance Ministry has issued invite to all the 11 members of the SIT after obtaining the consent of the Chairman and retired Supreme Court Judge M B Shah and Vice Chairman Justice (retd) Arijit Pasayat for convening the meeting.

The first meeting will be held on June four and all the members have been asked to participate, official sources said.

The government notified the SIT on May 27 after the Supreme Court had last week had granted it one week to constitute the high-profile team comprising top bosses of country's premier investigation, enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The meeting, the sources said, is expected to discuss the policy matters on combating the menace of black money and the status of ongoing probes and available inputs with all the departments in this regard.

The officers who would form part of the SIT include Secretary of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance, a Deputy Governor of RBI, Intelligence Bureau

Director, Director of Enforcement Directorate, Director CBI, CBDT Chairman and Director General Narcotics Control Bureau.

DG Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Director Financial Intelligence Unit, Secretary Research and Analysis Wing and Joint Secretary (Foreign Tax and Tax Research) in the Finance Ministry will be its other members.

The terms of reference for the SIT stipulate that it "shall have jurisdiction over all the cases, where investigation has already commenced or pending or awaiting to be initiated or have completed" with regard to instances of black money and illicit funds generated and sent to overseas destination and tax haven nations.

The SIT, the terms of reference said, "shall report to the Court and shall inform the Court of all major developments by filing periodic status reports from time to time and for this purpose, the Union of India shall accord all the necessary financial material, legal, diplomatic resources both inside and outside the country to the SIT".

The Union Cabinet notified the designations of the members of the government agencies that would constitute the SIT after it held its first meeting here on May 27.

"In the first Cabinet meeting of the new government... in the light of the directions of the SC, we have constituted an SIT for unearthing black money...This was an important issue for us," Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told media persons after the meeting.

A government statement later said the SIT has been entrusted with the "responsibility and duties of investigation, initiation of proceedings and prosecution in cases of Hasan Ali and other matters involving unaccounted money."

The SIT will also prepare a comprehensive action plan, including creation of an institutional structure that could enable the country to fight the battle against unaccounted money, it said.