No official reports of blackmoney belonging to corporate houses in foreign banks: Government

NEW DELHI: There are no "official" reports of large-scale stashing of black money belonging to corporate houses in foreign banks, Parliament was informed today.

"No...there are no official or authentic reports of large scale stashing of black money belonging to corporate houses in foreign banks," Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

He further said that whenever any credible information on black money is received, appropriate action under the Direct Tax laws is taken to bring to tax any undisclosed amounts.

In another reply, the minister said the government has received information under the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) from France about some bank accounts held by certain individuals and non-individuals in the HSBC Bank, Geneva.

"Based on the information received from the Government of France, appropriate action under the Direct Tax laws has been taken to bring to tax any undisclosed amounts in such cases," Palanimanickam said.

He, however said under confidentiality clause of the DTAC, the information received can be used only for the purposes specified therein.