Switzerland is in process of sharing details of 50 Indians having bank accounts
| Date :17-Jun-2019 |
BERNE/NEW DELHI:
SWISS authorities are in process of sharing details of at least 50 Indian nationals having accounts in Switzerland-based banks, with regulatory and enforcement agencies in the two countries tightening their noose on individuals suspected to have amassed illicit wealth. These individuals largely include businessmen associated with companies, including the dummy ones, in sectors ranging from real estate, financial services, technology and telecom to paints, home decoration, textiles, engineering goods, gems and jewellery.
Officials involved in the process of mutual administrative assistance between the two countries said. Switzerland has been striving hard for the past few years to shed a long-standing perception of it being a safe haven for black money, while the issue has been a politically sensitive one in India as well. When the Modi Government first came to power in 2014, it had termed the crackdown on the black money, including those allegedly parked in Swiss banks, as a key focus area. Since then, the two countries have strengthened their framework for the exchange of information in cases of financial wrongdoings, including by signing the global automatic exchange of information framework.
The two countries have also strengthened their bilateral pact on this front and the economic considerations for boosting the bilateral economic ties have further helped increase the cooperation when it comes to bringing to book the people with dubious records, especially in amassing illicit wealth. Citing the federal gazette notifications issued by the Swiss Government to the concerned individuals, the officials said at least 50 Indian nationals have been issued notices in the past few weeks giving them one final opportunity to appeal against proposed sharing of their details with the Indian authorities. Some of these notices have followed after the preliminary appeals by the concerned clients of Swiss banks have already been rejected due to inadequate supporting facts and documents, leaving a limited chance of their further pleas getting heard, officials said.
Under the Swiss laws, foreign clients of Swiss banks are given an opportunity to appeal against proposed sharing of their details within 30 days (only 10 days in some cases) after a country with a mutual assistance treaty, or party to the multilateral information exchange framework, seeks the details while giving sufficient proof of suspected financial wrongdoings.
While the Swiss Government federal gazette notifications are made public when a foreign client is given an appeal opportunity, in some cases their full names are redacted due to some secrecy clauses and only a few details such as their initials, date of birth and the nationality are made public. The full names that have been made public in recent weeks in the Swiss Government federal gazette include Krishna Bhagwan Ramchand, Potluri Rajamohan Rao, Kalpesh Harshad Kinariwala, Kuldip Singh Dhingra, Bhaskaran Nalini, Lalitaben Chimanbhai Patel etc.