At long last Government of India has at least taken one firm step towards bringing to light the individuals and entities that are alleged to have deposited enormous amount of money in foreign banks and thus evaded taxes that would have been charged. But even this belated step would not have been taken if the US-based rights group, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) had not made startling disclosures. As a result, Indian Finance Ministry is obliged to approached over half a dozen foreign jurisdictions to provide it with the details of addresses and deposits made by no fewer than 505 India-linked entities including businessmen and companies in foreign companies. The issue of stashing monies in foreign banks and evading tax payments has been raging with full fury in the country for many years. The Parliament has seen many rowdy scenes being enacted by the lawmakers demanding that the Government come out with full details of individuals and organizations known to have opened secret offshore accounts.
But notwithstanding big noise made about the subject, it is not that easy for any Government to lay hands on the secrets of such deposits in a foreign country. For instance take the case of Switzerland, a neutral country in Europe. Under law, Swiss banks are not allowed to disclose to any individual or Government any detail of an account of a foreigner. There are other hurdles also in the way. Even when Governments formally approach for such information, it entails many legal and formal procedures, which have to be completed making the exercise a time consuming job. Nevertheless, the disclosures made by ICIJ have naturally activated the Union Finance Ministry to initiate a probe into the scandals. We hope that the ministry in question will pursue the matter vigorously to its logical conclusion and take action under law ageist the defaulters.
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