Rs 24.5 lakh crore black money in Swiss banks: CBI


Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print
PTI

  • Can’t bring back booty due to legal hurdles, says minister

 

New Delhi, 13 Feb 2012: Outstripping the presumptive loss in the 2G spectrum scam, Indian black money stashed away in foreign banks is estimated at a staggering $(US) 500 billion or close to Rs 24.5 lakh crore, a revelation made by none other than the CBI, the country’s premier investigation agency.

 

“It is estimated that around $500 billion of illegal money belonging to Indians is deposited in tax havens abroad. Largest depositors in Swiss banks are also reported to be Indians,” CBI Director A P Singh said after inaugurating an agency to train Interpol officers on how to investigate and recover black money.

 

Singh’s statement on black money is significant since this is the first time that he is coming clean on Indians’ slush funds abroad.

 

During the recent winter session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had promised to bring out a white paper on black money. Quoting figures of Global Financial Integrity, he had said that from 1948 to 2008, about $213 billion was stashed away by Indians in foreign banks. “At the current value, this would amount to $462 billion,” Mukherjee had said.

 

However, the Centre is finding it difficult to repatriate the black money stashed abroad because of the lack of political will on the part of foreign governments, said Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy.

 

“Political will in other countries is not very encouraging. They say we are bound by laws. We are finding it difficult to bring black money stashed away in foreign banks,” he said.

 

The CBI director also revealed that the states acting as tax havens for illegal money were reluctant to share information as they were aware of the extent to which their economies have become “geared to this flow of illegal capital from the poorer countries.”

 

“Fifty-three per cent of the countries said to be least corrupt by Transparency International index are offshore tax havens, where most of the corrupt money goes. The tax havens include New Zealand, ranked as the least corrupt country, Singapore, ranked number five, and Switzerland number seven,” Singh said.

 

Singh said tracing, freezing, confiscation and repatriation of stolen assets is a cumbersome process because of differences in legal systems, high costs in coordinating investigations, inadequate international cooperation and bank secrecy laws.

 

Complicated

“One of the most complicated aspects of international asset tracing is jurisdiction. Generally, the jurisdiction in criminal law is territorial and it is a well-established principle that one state will not enforce their legal formalities on another state without following proper procedures. Criminals use these principles to their advantage, often spreading the crime over at least two jurisdictions and investing in a third,” Singh said.

 

The global financial markets allow money to travel faster now, making tracking the money trail even more difficult, Singh said.

 

“In some of the important cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation such as 2G spectrum case, Commonwealth Games scam and Madhu Koda scandal, we find that money is taken to Dubai/Singapore/Mauritius from where it goes to Switzerland and other such tax havens," he said.

 

Singh said World Bank estimates of cross border flow of money from illegal activities and tax evasion is around $ 1.5 trillion, of which $ 40 billion is bribe paid to government servants in developing countries.

 

 

Comments on this Article
Philip Mudartha, Qatar Tue, February-14-2012, 1:57
The solution is so simple, you would laugh at it! Make India a tax haven. Tax havens are least corrupt. (Anna Hazare, please note and fast till death to make us a tax haven country). Did you add up the rupees that flowed into St. Mary s island during the Spring Zouk aka rave party? Money goes where your mouth is, (and often where stomach, and what is beneath is). The least it likes is the government vaults. People do not trust their judgement in selecting their rulers. (when god had selected the rulers, they had little choice, those rulers would chop your head in the name of god). When moving from a highly taxed, regulated country to a tax haven with unregulated business activity, the culture as we think it was, and imagine it should be, would see some shocking rocking jolts..like honesty (especially public honesty) may become our culture! (now who likes honesty as culture?)
Write your Comments on this Article
Your Name
Native Place / Place of Residence
Your E-mail
Your Comment   You have characters left.
Security Validation
Enter the characters in the image above
    
Disclaimer: Kindly do not post any abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or SPAM. BelleVision.com reserves the right to block/ remove without notice any content received from users.
GTI MarigoldGTI Marigold
Anil Studio
Badminton Sports AcademyBadminton Sports Academy

Now open at Al Qusais

Veez Konkani IllustratedVEEZ Konkani

Weekly e-Magazine

New State Bank of India, Customer Service Point
Cool House ConstructionCool House Construction
Uzvaad FortnightlyUzvaad Fortnightly

Call : 91 9482810148

Your ad Here
Power Care
Ryan Intl Mangaluru
Ryan International
pearl printing
https://samuelsequeira.substack.com/publish
Omintec
Kittall.ComKittall.Com

Konkani Literature World

Konkanipoetry.com
Bluechem