Parliamentary panel asks Finance Ministry to finish probe into HSBC blackmoney A/cs

NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary panel today asked the Finance Ministry to expeditiously complete the probe into the names revealed by HSBC on unaccounted money stashed abroad.

The Ministry has also been asked to submit the report to the panel within one month.

The report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Yashwant Sinha, tabled in Lok Sabha today termed unaccounted or black money is a menace for the economy.

"The Committee find that action/investigation on the names reported by HSBC on unaccounted money stashed abroad has still not been concluded.

"The Committee, therefore, desire that expeditious action be taken to finalise the investigation in this matter and a report submitted to the Committee within one month on the outcome thereof," it said.

Earlier the government had informed Parliament that I-T department had received "certain information" under the double taxation avoidance agreement from the French government regarding accounts of Indians in HSBC Bank.

The report called for appropriate policy measures and deterrent enforcement to not only bring to book but also prevent generation in the first instance.

"Tax policies and tax administration will thus have to be accordingly geared up and re-oriented towards focused action in this direction," the report said.

It further recommended that economic intelligence should be better developed and bipartite agreements be concluded with regard to plugging generation of unaccounted money through tax havens.