Published On:Monday, June 23, 2014
Posted by Unknown
No Information on Black Money List from Switzerland: Finance Minister
Delhi: The government has not received any communication from Switzerland about "black money" suspected to be stashed in Swiss banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.
"We are writing to Swiss authorities so that the details or whatever information they have can be expedited and the cooperation between Swiss authorities and the government can bring fruitful results," said Mr Jaitley, whose BJP had made bringing back black money a key campaign pitch before the recent national election.
The minister was reacting to reports that Switzerland is compiling a list of Indians suspected to have stashed untaxed wealth in its banks and the details are being shared with the government.
In a statement, the Swiss government said, "Since a high-level Swiss delegation met with its India counterparts in New Delhi in February, no further official meeting has taken place. There is no new development to be reported."
The Press Trust of India had quoted a Swiss government official as saying that the country is trying to identify those suspected to hold untaxed money in Swiss banks "through structures like trusts, domiciliary companies and other legal entities."
He reportedly refused to name these account-holders or reveal the size of the funds they held in Swiss banks, citing a confidentiality clause in the bilateral information exchange treaty with India.
The Swiss government today said, "Switzerland is committed to resolving any open question with India and trusts that India shares its understanding that any solution can only be found within the established national and international legal frameworks."
After being voted to power, the Modi government set up an 11-member Special Investigation Team to help identify Indians stashing money in foreign accounts. The team is headed by Justice MB Shah, a former Supreme Court judge.
The Supreme Court had repeatedly censured the previous UPA government for failing to take strong steps to recover black money. The UPA had then argued that a mechanism was already in place to deal with tax evasion and black money.and a court-supervised investigation was not needed.
