UPA govt may hide behind secrecy pact

NEW DELHI: Despite nudging from the Supreme Court, the government may not reveal names of the country's biggest tax evaders who have laundered money in tax havens believed to be in hundreds of thousands of crores.

The government is taking the cover of a secrecy clause specifically introduced in the new Tax Information Exchange Agreement ( TIEA), already concluded with three large tax havens — British Virgin Island, Isle of Man and Bermuda — and under negotiation with 20 other jurisdictions.

As part of the agreement, a clause specifically provides that "information is to be treated as secret and can be disclosed to only specified person or authorities, which are tax authorities or concerned with the determination of tax appeal".

As per Tax Information Exchange Agreement, the requesting state has to provide some minimum details about the information requested in order to justify the relevance criteria.
Under the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with many countries, the government had failed to procure enough relevant information concerning tax evasion. Tax evasion in these countries is not considered a crime. Requests only in criminal cases were entertained.