(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The central government has completed assessment of 350 foreign accounts while tax-evasion proceedings have been initiated against 60 account holders as part of its crackdown on black money, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said yesterday.
"About 60 prosecutions have so far been launched for willful attempt to evade taxes and failure to furnish accounts and documents etc," the finance ministry said in a release here.
"Show cause notices before launching prosecutions have been issued in a large number of other cases wherein further action is underway," it added.
Reacting to a media report that 1,195 Indians were in the list of clients who held accounts in HSBC bank's Geneva branch from 2006-07, Jaitley said: "The details that have come out yesterday are the ones we already have.
"The question is not about names but evidences that we need. Some new names have been revealed whose veracity would be checked by authorities," he said.
Jaitley said the assessment of the balance accounts will get completed by March 31.
The finance minister said the government could not proceed on the "Swiss leaks" reports on the basis of some names.
"The top 100 names have been published in a newspaper. Some of these names already figure in the earlier list available with the government. Necessary investigation will be taken up in all the new cases, expeditiously," the finance ministry said in its statement.
"The income tax department is already in touch with the whistleblower who apparently brought out the names of persons holding undisclosed bank accounts in HSBC, Switzerland," the ministry said.
"He has been requested to share information available with him in regard to undisclosed bank accounts of Indians in HSBC, Switzerland and other destinations. His response is awaited," it added.
Some prominent names in the media report have reportedly denied having the Swiss bank accounts.
The government had submitted a list of about 628 such account holders to the special investigation team appointed by the Supreme Court for the recovery of black money.
The authorities, in December, said that in case of money stashed in foreign accounts, the disclosure relates to 628 Indians, who figured on a list of account holders in HSBC's Geneva branch that India has obtained from the France.
Of these, no balance has been found in 289 accounts, according to the SIT report submitted to the Supreme Court.
"Out of the 628 persons, 201 are either non-residents or non-traceable, leaving 427 cases as actionable," the report said. "An amount of Rs29.26bn has been brought to tax towards the undisclosed balances in the accounts."
Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal yesterday urged the government to act against HSBC Bank to unearth details of Indians holding black money abroad while BJP's Kiran Bedi called it "stolen" money.
"Why doesn't the BJP government act against HSBC officials? They will spill the beans. (The) US did precisely that," former Delhi chief minister Kejriwal tweeted.
He added: "But (the) bigger question is - what did first (the) Congress and now the BJP do? Nothing? Why?"
Bedi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's chief ministerial nominee in Delhi, said in a tweet: "Truly criminal, inhuman when poor man's money is stolen. This has caused huge gap between haves and have nots."
None in my family has foreign bank accounts: Rane
Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane yesterday categorically denied that neither he or any of his family members held accounts in any foreign bank. "I would like to state clearly that neither my wife, my children nor myself have any foreign accounts or Swiss bank accounts. These allegations have come up even in the past and we have nothing to do with it," Rane told the media in Mumbai. The former chief minister was reacting to a media report yesterday that his wife Neelam Narayan Rane and son Nilesh Rane are among a few foreign bank account holders with political connections. Rane, a former Shiv Sena leader, joined the Congress in 2005 and was a senior cabinet minister in the erstwhile government.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.