Defensive Jaitley says will give names after charges are filed

Under fire from various quarters for toeing the UPA’s line on black money (which the BJP had attacked when in Opposition), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the Government would make public the names of people having black money stashed abroad once charges were filed against them in court.

Jaitley’s statement came after the Government filed this clarification in a black money case being heard in the Supreme Court, following which Opposition parties and people on social media slammed the Government, alleging that it was singing the same tune as the previous Government.

The issue trended heavily on social media, forcing the Government to call in the Finance Minister for a fire-fighting operation though he has been operating from home following a surgery.

“We will make the names public only in accordance of law as we are bound by treaties,” Jaitley said in a hurriedly-called press briefing late in the evening at his residence. He said the tax pact signed by the then Congress Government with Germany on June 19, 1995 was constraining the Centre from declaring the names of persons having black money accounts overseas. Based on this treaty, the German Government has raised objections on making public the names of Indian accountholders in LGT Bank, Liechtenstein, he said.

“Is the present NDA Government led by Modi in any way reluctant to make some names public? Certainly not. We have no difficulty in making names public. But they can be made public only in accordance with due process of law. Once, after investigation, there are disclosures made to court, that is when charges are filed,” he said.

Later, an official statement said that the Government was taking steps to access tax-related information from foreign governments.

If the Government is not able to give a commitment to maintain confidentiality of information exchanged under tax treaties as per international standards, including under the new global standards for automatic exchange of information, it will not receive information about Indians hiding their money in other countries, including offshore financial centres and tax havens through multilayered entities with non-transparent ownership. “Thus the clarification sought is to facilitate collection of information about illegal money stashed abroad,” it said.

Giving details about delegation-level talks between India and Switzerland, Jaitley said Switzerland had agreed to share information about Indian accountholders mentioned in the HSBC list after an independent investigation had been completed by the Indian tax authorities.

Earlier, the Swiss Government had refused to share information on the names mentioned in these lists, saying that these were stolen data. However, the ice broke after talks between an Indian delegation led by Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das and a Swiss delegation earlier this week.

Jaitley further said that the Swiss Federal Tax authorities had agreed to “now confirm the genuineness or otherwise” of the documents with regard to foreign accounts. So far, he said, the Swiss have never given India these details and they would now have to be given in a time-bound manner. “Another major breakthrough is that we have agreed to start discussions on a bilateral agreement on automatic exchange of information,” he said.

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