Bill on corruption likely in Budget session: Moily

Bill on corruption likely in Budget session: Moily

Battling a string of scams, the UPA government is likely to introduce a bill in the Budget session of Parliament to rein in corruption.

"We are bringing a separate bill on corruption in accordance with the UN convention," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters in Mumbai.

He said the government intended to bring the legislation in the next session itself.

"In that direction, we are proceeding," he said.

"We have agreed to the convention but it was not ratified. The NDA government did not take any stand. Now, a couple of days back, a Group of Ministers (GoM) considered the UN convention and mooted the ratification. Thereafter, we will be bound by it," he said.

Maintaining that the government would like to fast-track corruption cases, Moily said the GoM is expected to submit its report to the prime minister within 60 days.

On black money stashed abroad, Moily said, "You know there are treaties between countries. They are done mutually by each country. We have to abide by the treaty. The Finance Minister has made it clear that this is meant for evasion of tax...only to the extent of taxation. Disclosure of names, unfortunately, the treaty doesn't permit."

"We don't want to hide anything. But the question is, there are certain binding principles of the treaty which inhibit us from disclosing it (the names)," he said.