Black money abroad: 350 accounts assessed, 60 cases filed

The central government has completed assessment of 350 foreign accounts while tax-evasion proceedings have been initiated against 60 such holders as part of its crackdown on black money accounts, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Monday.

Reacting to a media report that over 1,100 Indians were in the list of clients who held accounts in HSBC bank's Geneva branch from 2006-2007, Jaitley said: "The details that have come out today (Monday) are the ones we already have."

"The question is not about names but evidences that we need. Some new names have been revealed whose veracity would be checked by authorities," he said.

He added that 60 cases have been established through an independent probe by the income tax department.

Jaitley said the assessment of the balance accounts will get completed by March 31.

The minister said the government could not proceed on the "Swiss leaks" reports on the basis of some names.

The government had submitted the a list of about 628 such account holders to the Special Investigation Team appointed for the recovery of black money by the Supreme Court.

The authorities, in December, said in case of money stashed in foreign accounts, the disclosure relates to 628 Indians, who figured on a list of account holders in HSBC's Geneva branch that India has obtained from the France.

Of these, no balance has been found in 289 accounts, according to the SIT report submitted to the Supreme Court.

"Out of the 628 persons, 201 are either non-residents or non-traceable, leaving 427 cases as actionable," the report said. "An amount of Rs.2,926 crore has been brought to tax towards the undisclosed balances in the accounts (79)."