New Delhi: Activist-turned-politican Arvind Kejriwal today accused industrialists Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Jet Airways owner Naresh Goyal and Congress MP Annu Tandon of allegedly siphoning crores of black money to the Geneva branch of HSBC Bank,  which he accused of “openly and brazenly running a hawala racket in India.”

Mr Kejriwal described Ms Tandon as close to Rahul Gandhi and said it’s worth examining if the money in her account actually belongs to the Congress general secretary. She described  the charges as “rubbish.”

In January this year, a newspaper report said that HSBC had sent a written apology to Mukesh Ambani for mistakenly including his name on a list of 700 Indians who hold bank accounts in its Geneva branch, shared with the Indian government last year. (Read entire article here) Mr Kejriwal said that as of 2006, the balance in these accounts added up to 6,000 crores.

Details for 10 Indians on that list were shared with him by a Congress leader, said Mr Kejriwal, the anti-corruption campaigner who launched his political party about a month ago. He blamed the government and in particular the former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for protecting these influential Indians. Earlier this year, the government said that the owners of these accounts had been taxed for Rs. 181 crore. Mr Kejriwal says they should be prosecuted.

“Manmohan Singh’s government is the biggest threat to this country’s economic sovereignty,” he said.

According to Mr Kejriwal, the HSBC account for Mr Goyal of Jet Airways had 80 crores, Ms Tandon had 125 crores in her Geneva account, and Mukesh and Anil Ambani held 100 crores each.

After it received the list of 700 account-holders, Mr Kejriwal said, income tax officials raided what he described as a cluster of smaller players, while exempting heavyweights like the Ambanis and Mr Goyal.

He went on to allege that Mukesh Ambani met with then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and persuaded him “not to raid Reliance Industries and that he was willing to pay up taxes to ‘buy peace'”.

Mr Kejriwal also said Mr Mukherjee incorrectly told Parliament in August this year that no MPs were on the list of account holders shared by HSBC. He said the information furnished to him shows that a Congress MP named Annu Tandon, who he described as close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, had a bank balance of 125 crores in a Geneva account.

Ms Tandon’s husband, Sandeep, who has died, was once an income tax officer who raided Reliance Industries owned by Mukesh Ambani, but was later employed by the company. “Is this money (in Ms Tandon’s account) Reliance money or Congress money or Rahul Gandhi’s money?” Mr Kejriwal asked. (Watch: Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan’s press conference)

Mr Kejriwal said that three of the people who were raided gave details to income tax officials that reveal that their statements show that in flagrant violation of the laws, HSBC representatives conduct home visits to help open a bank account in Geneva, and to deposit or withdraw cash. He demanded that the government arrest and question the management of HSBC in India.

This year, the Reserve Bank of India investigated HSBC after a US senate committee said the bank’s Indian staff mishandled checks to ensure the global banking giant was following norms that guard against money-laundering and terror-funding.

NDTV