Why hide names of foreign account holders, asks apex court

Why hide names of foreign account holders, asks apex court

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/banking/why-hide-names-of-foreign-account-holders-asks-apex-court/articleshow/7285011.cms

New Delhi, Jan 14 : The Supreme Court Friday asked the central
government what was its difficulty in disclosing the names of people
who have stashed away huge amounts of money in Swiss and German banks
in Liechtenstein principality in Europe.

"What is the privilege" in not disclosing their names, asked the apex
court bench of Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy and Justice S.S.Nijjar.

"It is not a case of tax. The issue involved is of serious nature.
Keep aside all the things. Let us consider about the persons (those
disclosed by the German authorities)," the court told Solicitor
General Gopal Subramanium.

"If you don't have them (the names), it is a different matter," the
court said, suggesting that when the government has the names, why
cannot these be made public.

At this, Subramanium sought the adjournment of the hearing, saying
that he needed to seek instructions from the government.

The matter will come up for hearing Wednesday.

In the course of the hearing, senior counsel Anil Diwan, appearing for
petitioner Ram Jethmalani, said the government was deliberately not
making the names public.

He said the government was going in a wrong direction by taking the
cover of the double taxation treaty between India and Germany. The
entire issue concerns black money, Diwan contended.

Jethamalani has moved the apex court seeking directions to the central
government to act on the report that the German government was willing
to share the details of Indians who were having accounts in the banks
based in Liechtenstein.

Jethamalani has sought the court's directions to the government to
bring back ill-gotten USD 1.5 trillion put away in foreign banks by
Indians.

The German government had said that it accessed the information on the
details of the account holders through its sources.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in its status report during
last hearing of the case, said there are twelve trusts owned by 26 tax
assesses, which even include NRIs, that hold accounts in the Swiss and
German banks in Liechtenstein.

There are 15 banks in Liechtenstein, of which seven are Swiss. The
principality, with an area of about 160 sq km, is surrounded by
Switzerland and Austria and has a total population of 67,000 people.

--IANS

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/