Government submits list of 627 people having illegal accounts in foreign banks to SC

The Centre has submitted a list of people having illegal accounts in foreign banks to the Supreme Court (SC), who handed it over to the SC appointed SIT (Special Investigation Team)
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi filed a set of three documents in a sealed cover with the SC, on behalf of the Central Government. The documents contain the names of 627 persons having illegal HSBC accounts in Geneva which was provided by France and a status report of the investigation against them. The deadline for investigation into these accounts under the Income Tax Act is March 31, 2015.
Earlier, the government had released the names of three people from the list. The three persons whose names had been released are Pradip Burman, former executive chairman of Dabur; Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S.Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd.Following this, the SC had issued an order asking the government to release all the names. The Court rejected the Centre’s argument that it would reveal the only the names against whom the Income Tax Department has evidence.

SIT

Once the documents were handed to the SC, the Bench handed the documents over to the SIT without opening the documents. The sealed cover will be opened by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the SC-appointed SIT. The further course of action will also be determined by the SIT. The Chairman of the SIT mentioned that there was no new detail in the list, and that the SIT already had the list of names.

Statistics

Though there are no official or authorised estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), which is a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians have parked US $462 billion in bank accounts in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2014