Results on black money trail to be visible in 5 yrs: FinSec

NEW DELHI: The government today said it is in the process of tightening laws and revising tax treaties to ensure that illicit funds stashed abroad are brought back and the results would be visible in the next five years.

"Some money we have already started getting from the accounts... really the environment has been built up only in the last two years," Finance Secretary R S Gujral told PTI.

He further said: "If a businessman is not at all afraid that he will ever be found out why will he bring the money back. We are still in the process of building that environment, taking action and you will see the results over the next five years."

About 10 countries have provided information automatically on secret accounts, including banking information.

Gujral had earlier this week said that India has obtained certain information from Mauritius also regarding individual cases which the government had asked for and added that action is being taken on them.

India is in the process of revising the tax treaty with the island nation.

Besides, the government is also seeking to amend 75 DTAAs ( double taxation avoidance agreements) and is seeking to enter into 17 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs).

The government had earlier expressed dismay at the fact that some countries were still not willing to share past information and agreeing for automatic exchange of information, despite OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) pressing for them.