Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that the Revenue Department has completed assessment of 350 foreign accounts which are under suspicion of stashing black money. He said that prosecution has been launched against 60 such account holders. He added that assement of the balance accounts will get completed by March 31.

According to an official statement released in the afternoon, the Government had received information of about 628 Indian persons or entities who were HSBC foreign bank account holders. Out of these, 200 were either non-resident or non-traceable, leaving 428 cases of residents which were found actionable. “For these 428 actionable cases the net amount of peak balance was about Rs 4,500 crore,” the official statement from the Finance Ministry added.

Reacting to media reports which has revealed that the number of Indian black money account holders is much higher; he said a large number of these names figure in the list that the government has already submitted to the Special Investigative Team.

Will probe new names

However, he added, that there are some additional names which have emerged and if those additional names are those of resident Indians then a case exists and the Government will probe them.

He also said that just having the names of account holders is not enough as the Swiss Government has said that it cannot co-operate on the basis of stolen data alone. However, if the Indian government presents additional evidence, the Swiss Government has agreed to co-operate to verify the authenticity of the information, he added.

Govt in touch with whistleblower

Meanwhile, in its official statement, the government said that it is in touch with the whistle blower who leaked information about these accounts and it has also requested for additional information on undisclosed bank accounts of Indians in HSBC, Switzerland and other destinations

“Based upon credible information of undisclosed foreign bank accounts, fresh references for obtaining further information in more than 600 cases have been made to foreign jurisdictions, under available treaties/agreements. The same are being pursued,” the official statement added.

Sources said that those against whom legal action has been initiated include some corporates, business houses and other individuals.

They said the total amount in these accounts is estimated to be to the tune of Rs 1,500-1,600 crore.

“The disclosures of these names is part of the government’s commitment to curb cases of black money and of illegal funds stashed abroad by Indians. The I—T department aims to get conviction in these cases very fast,” they said.

The SIT, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice M B Shah, had said in its last report to the government and the Supreme Court in December 2014 that the black money holders names in HSBC Geneva list will be taken to their logical conclusion soon.

(With additional inputs from PTI)

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW