Indian black money parked in Liechtenstein?
German government is willing to part with the names of Indians who have parked their black money in Liechtenstein. Be your own FM, draw up your Budget
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Investigators in India might have their best chance yet to trace those Indians who have stashed away millions in the tiny tax haven of Liechtenstein, a small landlocked country between Austria and Switzerland, provided the Manmohan Singh government asks for the information on offer.
Details on hundreds of rich Indians who have parked their black money in Liechtenstein may be made available to the authorities here as the German government, which has obtained a list of account holders at Liechtenstein���s LTG Bank, is willing to part with the names. The German federal government has been willing to do this free of charge since February.
Several countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Ireland, have already used the opportunity to zero in on their citizens who have evaded taxes and smuggled their wealth to the principality, the sixth-smallest country in the world. But Transparency International (TI) says India has maintained ���a stoic silence over the issue and has not approached the German government for this data������.
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Expressing concern over the Indian government���s apparently lackadaisical attitude in going after offenders who have cheated the tax authorities of millions of dollars, the Indian chapter of TI���an international organization campaigning to reduce corruption���has urged it to take all necessary steps to seek the data.
Chairman of TI India and former navy chief Admiral R H Tahiliani said, ���This money belongs to the people of India and it is possible that it has been tucked away in this distant country by those who have acquired it illegally and are now evading taxes. There should be complete transparency and accountability about the money and it is for the government to find this out and inform the people.������
Indeed, the offer looks too good to refuse. It���s a bit like being served secrets on a platter.
��� BND, Germany���s intelligence agency, is believed to have bought a disk containing details on accounts held in the Alpine principality of Liechtenstein and Switzerland from a former employee of LTG Bank for 4.2 million euros
��� On February 25, Germany said the details of the 800 non-German account-holders would be given to their respective countries
Times View
The government must not think twice before accepting the offer from Germany to reveal the names of those who have illegally stashed away money in Liechtenstein. Many, if not most, of the account holders are likely to be corrupt politicians and others hiding wealth obtained by dubious means, as Transparency International has rightly pointed out.
If the government is serious about cleansing public life in India, the least it can do is accept such fortuitous offers with alacrity. The citizens have a right to know who is secreting away public money into personal accounts and the government has a duty to get that information if it can.
Courtesy: Times of India
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