Manmohan used to be honest but no more: Jethmalani

“A person doesn’t become honest by merely refusing to be bribed. He has greater responsibilities as Prime Minister… Manmohan Singh should quit; the country would be better off without him as the Prime Minister.” Jethmalani added.

On corruption cases under the UPA government,the noted lawyer said,”This is a government of scams. Everyday or every week one sees a new scam.”

Jethmalani rubbishes Liechtenstein Govt’s contention

Jethmalani rubbished Liechtenstein government’s contention that it cannot share information relating to black money stashed by Indians there due to absence of a treaty,saying a bilateral agreement was not required to probe a crime.

“There is no need for a bilateral treaty. Bilateral treaties are dependent upon double taxation business but here,when a crime is being investigated there are already three tiers under which they are bound to give us the information,” the BJP MP said.

He was responding to report that Liechtenstein has declined help in India’s quest for suspected black money trail to the small but rich European country bordering Switzerland,citing absence of a bilateral treaty for such information exchange.

“They are trying to engineer things so that they don’t get any information…These all are tricks which are intended to justify their acts,” Jethmalani also said.

Acting upon Jethmalani’s petition on the black money issue,the Supreme Court here had made remarks against government for treating black money as a tax issue saying it was simple and pure theft of the Indian economy.

The Indian government is facing intense pressure from the opposition parties as well as the Supreme Court to take action against those having stashed illicit wealth in foreign banks,mainly in Switzerland and other locations such as Liechtenstein and Cayman Islands.

Liechtenstein is a small country,located entirely within the Alps range of mountains,with a total estimated population of about 35,000. However,it is one of the richest countries in the world and has the highest GDP per person in the world.