Neha Shukla, TNN, Sep 18, 2010;
LUCKNOW: There is no verifiable information available about the quantum of Indian money deposited in Swiss banks. So says Ministry of Finance in response to an RTI query. Swiss Federal Tax Administration has expressed its inability to exchange the information regarding bank deposits of Indian residents.
Indian government has made efforts from time-to-time to seek details of Indian account holders from Swiss government under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Switzerland. But Swiss government has expressed its inability to exchange the information on the ground that information was not necessary for application of DTAA between the two countries but was required only for enforcement of Indian internal laws.
The response by V Vizay Babu, under secretary, Foreign Tax and Tax Research-I (FT and TR-I) and CPIO, Ministry of Finance, stated that according to Swiss Federal Tax Administration, such information was not at their disposal under Swiss laws in the normal course of tax administration. However, the GoI has not given up the process to obtain the information.
The information regarding GoI's awareness of media reports about heavy amounts of unaccounted money of many Indian citizens in Swiss banks was sought by Subhash Chandra Agrawal under Right to Information (RTI) Act from the CPIO, department of economic affairs, Ministry of Finance on May 22, 2010. To which the ministry replied that the protocol revising the existing DTAA between India and Switzerland has been recently signed which inter-alia seeks to amend the Article concerning Exchange of Information, by which India could obtain banking information in specific cases for prospective information.
Regarding the efforts made by GoI to bring the said black money of Indians to India, ministry says a writ petition ((C) No. 176 of 2009) has been filed in the supreme court, which, among other things, also raises the issue of action taken by Indian government over money stashed in foreign banks, especially Swiss banks.
Agrawal, in his RTI application, had also asked the ministry if Germany also offered assistance to GoI in revealing details of Indian account holders in German banks. To which ministry responded that German Federal Central Tax Office in March, 2009 had already disclosed about Indian tax payers having accounts with LGT Bank in Liechtenstein. The information has been forwarded to respective Income Tax (I-T) authorities and they have initiated necessary action.
The Foreign Tax and Tax Research-I (FT and TR-I) deals with exchange of information with foreign tax authorities under the DTAA. It does not have any information/database regarding all foreign banks involved in stashing of India's money. The banking information from various countries with which India has DTAA is sought from the respective countries when such information is requested by field authorities in the prescribed proforma. Whenever any such information is received, it is subjected to the confidentiality provisions of the DTAA and may only be used for tax purposes specified therein and hence, exempt from disclosure under sections 8(1)(a) and 8(1)(f) of the RTI Act.
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