We stepped in as govt. failed to bring back black money: Supreme Court

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

"Since 1947, nobody thought for 65 years to bring these money stashed in foreign banks to the country. Government has failed in its role for 65 years"

The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Centre for its failure to bring back thousands of crores of black money stashed away in banks abroad.

A Bench, dismissing an application filed by the Centre to recall a July 4, 2011 order appointing a special investigation team to take steps to bring back the black money, said the court stepped in after six decades as the government failed in its duty. .

“Let us see, the SIT will do things which this country is dreaming of,” Justice H.L. Dattu told Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran.

“No effort was made to bring back the money… and no effort was made to disclose the names of those whose money was in the foreign banks. If the money had been brought back, the economy of the country would have gone up. Per capita income would have gone up. Income tax rate, which we are paying at 30 per cent, would have been reduced,” the judge said.

“Since 1947, for 65 years, nobody thought of bringing the money stashed away in foreign banks to the country. The government has failed in its role for 65 years.” This court… “feels that you have failed in your duty and so it gave an order for the appointment of the committee headed by former judges of this court. Three years have passed, but you have not done anything to implement the order.” The Centre had said: “The order... directly interferes with the functions of the executive, more particularly, since it is ordered that the SIT will report directly to the Supreme Court.”

Switzerland not sharing info on bank accounts of Indians: Chidambaram

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The HinduSwitzerland has not honoured the terms of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two nations, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said. File photo: V. Sudershan

Outgoing Finance Minister P Chidambaram has threatened action by India against Switzerland at global forums such as G20 for its persistent denial to share information on Indians stashing money in its banks. The G20 can impose sanctions for the protection of the member countries' public finances and financial systems.

The Swiss authorities have, through a letter dated February 20, suggested that they are “closing” India's requests in 562 cases.

In a two-page letter to the Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer Schlumpf, dated March 13 but released on Thursday, Mr. Chidambaram wrote that the Swiss have blocked India's requests for information despite the G20 leaders' April 2009 declaration that had stated that the “era of bank secrecy is over”.

He further wrote that India could proceed to declare Switzerland a non-cooperative jurisdiction. “Switzerland’s refusal to provide information to India and other countries on the grounds that the source of the information requested is based on ‘stolen data’ means that, in practice, Switzerland still believes in bank secrecy and is therefore not in tune with the modern era,” he wrote.

According to Mr. Chidambaram, Switzerland has not honoured its Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India. Indian tax authorities have sought information on Indians with accounts in Swiss banks under the DTAA. “If information continues to be denied to India under the DTAC (Double Taxation Avoidance Convention), the Government of India will be constrained to take a position in the global forum,” he wrote in the letter to his Swiss counterpart.

He has also warned of action against Switzerland under India's domestic laws if the denial of access to the information sought continues. Though he did not spell out the details, India has the option of making unavailable to Swiss investors benefits under the DTAA between the two countries.

“In view of your assurance that the Swiss government is keen to cooperate with India and to find possible ways of complying with our requests for information under DTAC, a bilateral discussion at the official level was held in New Delhi on February 4 and 5, 2014. However, no progress was made during the discussions and the Swiss delegation merely reiterated their previously stated positions and refused to consider any options or alternate approaches,” Mr. Chidambaram wrote.