THE Swiss Banking Association report 2006 shows dishonest Indians have stashed a huge $1456 billion black money in the secret bank accounts in Switzerland, one of the world’s best known tax havens.

The account holders are mainly politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen. There were high hopes that once India and Switzerland signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) a significant portion of the money would come back to the country. But the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee’s remark that DTAA would not help India in getting back the black money stashed away in secret Swiss bank accounts have proved to be a dampener.

The only gain that India could expect to make is prospective information about the depositors from Switzerland in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards which were negotiated in line with the parameters decided by the Swiss Federal Council, the Swiss Federal Department of Finance. But this again entirely depends on the desires and wisdom of Switzerland. India cannot force it to part with the information as the Swiss laws do not give right to its bankers to furnish any information of their banking transactions. In this perspective the signing of the DDTA has virtually lost its relevance.

The most intriguing aspect is the government cannot share any information with any other authority, including Parliament. This information cannot even be shared with the Enforcement Directorate. No doubt Switzerland is a sovereign country, but it is beyond comprehension how its democratic government could hide information even from Parliament which is of highest institution? And how could the fact be ignored that this ill-gotten money was corroding the sovereignty of India? Does not it imply that for the sake of protecting the sovereignty of Switzerland the Government of India was indirectly serving the interest of the dishonest Indians? It is worth mentioning that in 2009 the largest Swiss bank, UBS, had agreed to provide information to the United States about account holders who are suspected to have evaded taxes in America. If the law of the land does not permit the Swiss banks to reveal any information about the depositors and the accounts, how could the UBS express its willingness to the USA authorities? It simply gives rise to suspicion that Swiss authorities are resorting to double standard.

The issue of bringing back the slush money stashed away in Swiss banks and other countries by dishonest Indians was raised during last year’s general elections. The issue got importance for the reason that it was raised by the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr L K Advani. If the report, based on the studies conducted abroad, of the task force constituted by Mr Advani is to be believed nearly ` 70 lakh crore or $1.4 trillion Indian money is stashed in these banks. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country’s foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get ` 1,00,000 each. This is really a national shame that this huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India by exploiting and betraying them. It is an irony that this amount has multiplied enormously during globalisation and reforms when a huge amount of FDI fund has been pouring in India. The government must realise that this is the hard-earned money of the common Indians and no law should prevent them from getting access to it. The government must prevail upon the Swiss authorities and make them agree to hand over this money. Else, Switzerland would be accused of protecting dishonest Indians.