FM to reveal plans on black money, no names

Drawing flak for its failure to bring back illicit deposits in offshore banks into India, the finance ministry will make its stand clear on this issue tomorrow. But the government will stick to its stand of not declaring the names of 26 Indians who are said to have parked their black money in Liechtenstein, a European nation bordering Switzerland, despite mounting pressure from the Opposition.

In a press conference tomorrow, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to announce a list of steps being taken by the government to bring home the money stashed away in tax havens abroad.

On Thursday, the finance ministry will also appear before a Parliamentary Standing Committee to provide details on the issue. The committee has asked for copies of some reports and books on black money.

This comes in the backdrop of criticism of the government by the Supreme Court last week on the former’s handling of the black money issue and its reluctance to disclose the names of Indians who parked their illegal money in the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein.

The government had given the names of the account holders to the apex court but said it could not make them public due to the confidentiality clause in the agreement between India and Germany, which had provided the information on secret accounts of Indians in Liechtenstein last year.

On the basis of this information, assessment proceedings were resumed and cases were centralised in different central charges in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Assessments were made against 18 individual cases involving a total assessed income of Rs 43.83 crore and a total demand of Rs 24.26 crore. Penalty proceedings for concealment of income have separately been initiated in all these cases.

“The government is legally bound not to share the information. The information is secret and given under a treaty with Germany only for taxation purposes. If details are made public, European countries will not share any information with India in future,” said a finance ministry official.

However, the Opposition says provisions of double taxation avoidance agreements do not apply in this case, since India does not have such a pact with Liechtenstein.