Former Union Law minister, senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani put the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on the witness box and slapped him with a dozen questions on the Narendra Modi government's efforts on delivering its key poll promise on black money.

"Whether it was the previous government or the present one, my battle for the return of our national wealth illegally parked in foreign banks estimated to be around $1500 billion or Rs 90 lakh crore, back to our national coffers continues unabated," Jethmalani said in a half page advertisement published in the Indian Express newspaper.

He questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's studied silence and various recent government actions and termed these as "unpardonable betrayal.'

He has asked Jaitley 12 questions and promised, 'more would follow'.

"How many amended double taxation treaties have you entered into till date after becoming the finance minister?

"Was the statement of the new BJP president Shri Amit Shah that the promise of repatriation of black money was mere election 'jumla' made with your concurrence? You have never disowned it, and neither has anyone else in the government. This is confession enough in my opinion of an intentional fraud on the nation."

In October 2014, Jethmalani had written a letter to Jaitley and accused him of misleading the Supreme Court of India over the black money issue. Your action in approaching the Supreme Court with the kind of Petition that you have filed is one of the most ill advised steps taken, Jethmalani had written.

Will Jaitley respond to the 12 questions posed by Jethmalani? Watch this space.