NEW DELHI, MAY 03, 2009: ON Saturday, the Union Government filed an affidavit before the Apex Court in response to the PIL filed by veteral legal eagle Ram Jethmalani on the tax haven issue. Though this affidavit has not been very revealing in terms of giving any glimpse of official quantification of Indian black money vaulted in tax havens but did admit that its sustained persuasion compelled the German revenue authorities to share the Indian names obtained by Germany from a former employee of LGT bank of Liechtenstein, a landlocked country, situated in the shadow of Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
The UPA Government which has been following the policy of non-transparency on this issue, has said that it received a list of names on March 18 this year from the German tax authorities and taking action envisaged under the Indo-German Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.
The Government has also hinted at re-opening of assessment under I-T Act and Wealth Tax Act which is being pursued by income tax field formations. Citing 'confidentiality' clause as envisaged under the DTAA it refrained from disclosing the names of the Indians figuring in the much talked about German list.
The 29-page affidavit also states that in the past India had approached Switzerland for information related to Indian balck money being stashed away to their banks but the Swiss always said no to cooperation. However, the latest development is that the Swiss Confederation has agreed to adopt the OECD standards on tax information exchange and is willing to enter into bilaterial agreements.
The affidavit has also alleged that the petitioner has based its petition on the basis of biased report of BJP. It also states that in place of filing PIL, the petitioner could also have got the details through Right to Information Act.
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