New Delhi: Caving to international pressure, Switzerland government has starting releasing names of Indians holding Swiss bank accounts. Names of five Indians - Sneh Lata Sawhney, Sangita Sawhney, Gurjit Singh Kochar, Syed Mohamed Masood and Chaud Kauser Mohamed Masood- have been declared.
According to PAN card details, the two women named are residents of Delhi. Making public these names, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has asked the two Indians to file an appeal within 30 days before the Federal Administrative Court if they do not want their details to be shared with the Indian authorities under their 'mutual assistance' treaty on tax matters.
According to sources, this is a big win for the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing black money stashed abroad which is likely to empower the Indian government's case. The SIT has claimed that 340 Indians hold accounts in Swiss banks with over Rs 4000 crore stashed in them.
Similar is the case for other foreign nationals including the British, Spanish and Russians. However, in case of American and Israeli citizens, their full names have been withheld and they have been identified by their initials and dates of birth.
At least 40 such 'final notices' have been published in the Swiss Federal Gazette so far in May, while more such names are expected to be published going forward. Through these gazette notices, the Swiss FTA is also looking to give the concerned persons an opportunity to resort to legal remedies. These are the persons about whom foreign governments are requesting information.
Committing full support to India's fight against the black money menace, Switzerland had said its Parliament would soon consider changes in laws to look into the possibility of sharing information in cases being probed on the basis of stolen data of Swiss bank accounts.
Switzerland's Economic Affairs Minister Johann Schneider Ammann during his India visit on May 15 said that the Swiss government was sensitive to the fact that the issue of black money was very important for India and needed to be resolved.
"Switzerland has decided to follow international standards, including those framed by OECD, in sharing information and providing assistance to foreign countries probing such cases, but we have to ask our Parliament to make changes in our laws," he said.
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