The case of ill gotten billions of dollars stashed in tax havens is getting ‘curiouser and curiouser’ by the day. According to the government now, Liechtenstein Bank which said earlier it would share the information on the Indians holding secret accounts is denying on the ground that India hasn’t signed any treaty , therefore it cannot share any information on the subject.
Ram Jethmalani said on the television channel yesterday that the government is deliberately engineering a delay. He says the case must be investigated from the criminal point of view. The prime minister and the government are not pressing to get the information on the basis of the criminality involved in stashing the ill gotten wealth in the tax havens. These tax havens are ready to provide the information if the government investigates on the basis of a crime committed. We do not know if the government is pursuing from this angle to get the required information. The government must inform us the names of the Indians involved as also whether it is pursuing to get the information based on the criminal act involved.
No government can hide under deflecting the issue for long. The secret wealth stashed away by Indians by violating the tax laws then existing including FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) now amended, altered and named FEMA is necessarily is necessarily a fraudulent and criminal act.
The Swiss authorities say they protect the clients’ data under the Swiss laws if it is a tax evasion case but do not protect if it is tax fraud case. The Swiss are well aware that India’s currency is yet not fully convertible. Even the present current account convertibility came only after the recent liberalization effected in 1991.
Hence, most of the billions stashed in the Swiss banks and other tax havens by the Indians is a criminal act. The Swiss and the other Tax havens can be pushed to act and provide the information on the basis of the criminal angle involved in opening and operating these secret accounts. Thus it is within the law for the Swiss banks and the tax havens to provide the information and facilitate the transfer of the billions back to the Indian government. Lack of will in the Congress government than lack of cooperation from the Swiss is the real delay in getting our Swiss stash back.
The Congress government must act swiftly and get back this huge stash illegally kept abroad. This will help to reduce the tax rates, increase the tax free slabs of salary income, reduce the interest rates, increase infrastructure investments, social sector spending etc. In the absence of all this, inclusive growth policies of the government seem to be a mere propaganda than any concrete achievement on the ground level in the faceof the billions lying abroad high deficits at home.
The Congress and the prime minister’s silence on this front is damaging the economy for too long. An economist PM should not hurt the economy deeper for the stability of the political party he is heading by not attempting the right action at the right time.
Way back in the 90s in one of the public addresses at IMC Mumbai, Dr. Singh said “ I am surprised and wonder why every flight to Zurich is full to capacity.” It is clear that our PM was obviously aware of where the looted wealth of the nation was finally finding its refuge.
In 2011 after nearly two decades of liberalization when the PM is holding the highest power , he must act swiftly like the US President and get back this huge wealth of our country instead of protecting the image of the Congress party-led Government.
The total fund stashed in tax havens is estimated at $18 trillion. The Swiss Banks themselves have more than $1 trillion. Konrad Hummler, chairman of the Swiss private Bankers association says one third of this money is black. Also, one of the lawyers of the Switzerland Solicitor firm said on TV channel Times Now the other day that the Swiss Government doesn’t provide protection to a criminal’s data. Now it’s clear that treaty or no treaty, the government of India can seek the information on these secret accounts by pursuing from the criminality end. These tax havens have time and again expressed their intentions to provide the information if these are sought professionally stating the crime involved as per the laws of the land.
Our government’s expression of helplessness is more because there is a deliberate engineering of the delay rather than the non-cooperation of the different tax haven jurisdictions. Citizens are now utterly fed up with high taxes, high deficits, high interest rates and surfacing social discontent through increasing crime and violence.
If the government of the day doesn’t act soon to get back the Swiss stash and make life comfortable for the majority of the citizens, soon the hard working tax payer may question why pay tax on their meagre income when billions are lying in the foreign shore through, loot and grab of our national wealth by corrupt means of all kind.
