Says it is worried a general pardon will send wrong signal
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India on a petition seeking probe into the alleged money laundering by the trustees of Mumbai's Lilawati Hospital.
The assurance came at a bilateral meeting between Mukherjee and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on the sidelines of the meeting of the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that concluded in Paris on Saturday.
The government on Saturday said it has served notices to 17 persons who allegedly kept untaxed money in foreign banks and prosecution has begun against them, but refused to reveal their names. The comments, made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, came a day after some media reports revealed names of 15 entities, including individuals and trusts, who allegedly kept illicit money in LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, an European country neighbouring Switzerland.
Top merchants in Mumbai confirmed that diamond market is stunned by the revelation
Tehelka magazine said two years ago the German government had passed on the names and bank account details of 18 Indians who had invested their wealth in the LGT bank in Liechtenstein, a well-known tax haven.
The government may have to wait a little longer to get a trail of illegal money stashed by Indians in Liechtenstein.
As the debate on revealing names of those who had stashed money abroad was hotting up, a Parliamentary panel grilled finance ministry officials on why the confidentiality clause was put in tax treaties in the first place.
Distinguished lawyer Anil Divan who is arguing the case related to black money stashed overseas discusses the legal details of the case and is optimistic that the illicit wealth can be brought back to India.
The department is identifying tax evasion cases from the information it has got from various countries under the normal exchange route.
The court's remarks came after the government contended that it has got the information from the German government pertaining to the bank accounts of Indian citizens in Liechtenstein Bank there.
The subprime crisis followed by global meltdown has had its share of fallouts; yet there is a silver line which has the world order gearing up for a new era of financial discipline, tax transparency and enhanced regulation.
David Villa equalled Raul's Spain scoring record of 44 but the world and European champions had to withstand a Scotland fightback before Fernando Llorente's late goal secured a 3-2 win in a Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday.
Carlos Tevez laid on two goals and scored a third as Argentina beat world champions Spain 4-1 in a friendly at the Monumental on Tuesday.
France received chilling notice that the road to post-World Cup redemption will be long and hard when they lost 1-0 to Belarus in Paris on Friday, while Portugal threw away two points in a frantic 4-4 draw at home to Cyprus. England and Italy were able to start repairing their reputations with contrasting wins in their first Euro 2012 qualifiers and Spain swatted away Liechtenstein 4-0 with an ease befitting their status as world and European champions.
European heavyweights France, England and Italy get the chance to put their disappointing World Cups behind them on Friday as they kick off their Euro 2012 qualifying campaigns on a night for fresh starts.
However, the exact number of persons contained in the list and the illegal money in the accounts of German banks could not be ascertained immediately.
Gowadia (66) has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts, including conspiracy, violating the arms export control act and money laundering.The indictment accuses Gowadia of helping China design a cruise missile with stealth capabilities.
Spain, who won Euro 2008 with a series of superb performances culminating in their victory over Germany in the final, are ranked number one in the world and were grouped with Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein.
The German government will buy stolen data of about 1,500 German tax offenders holding secret bank accounts in Switzerland offered by an informer for Euro 2.5 million on lines of a similar deal two years back for account information from Liechtenstein.
Per capita gross domestic product is an approximation of the value of goods produced per person in the country, equal to the country's GDP divided by the total number of people in the country.
The Swiss banks' proposal to levy a withholding tax on the income generated from assets of Indian nationals and held in Swiss banks, is not worth treating seriously.
Eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani and others, who have alleged government inaction in bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks, on Friday told the Supreme Court that the Centre was withholding vital documents relating to the case.
World champions Italy and Euro 2008 winners Spain took determined steps towards World Cup qualification with victories on Saturday but France and Portugal are struggling after being held to disappointing draws. Nobody was in a position to join already-qualified Netherlands in securing a place at the finals in South Africa next year but Spain can make a provisional booking after seven wins out of seven following a 5-0 home thrashing of Belgium.
A tax haven, or a place in which certain taxes are imposed either at a low rate or not at all, is the best possible way out for those interested in reducing their tax liabilities.
Switzerland only provided information on tax fraud that led to criminal activity. But the Swiss definition of tax fraud is quite narrow, which means that a false invoice is not a crime. Now, any tax abuse will be covered.
OECD has identified at least four tax jurisdictions -- Jamaica, Qatar, Botswana and Ghana - whose tax information system would be studied to find out if they are emerging as the new tax havens following the crackdown on the existing ones. A unique tax identification number would be akin to a global permanent account number for Indian taxpayers which could remain the same across jurisdictions.
While admitting India's persistent stand on the issue might delay the agreement, a top commerce ministry official said the talks were on track. "We will maintain a hardline stand," said the official. It is to be noted, the sixth round of EU-India trade negotiation in Delhi in March ended without any substantial progress because of the tariff-related issues. The EU is India's largest trading partner and the total bilateral trade stood at over $70 billion in 2008-09.
India is the latest of several nations to raise the alarm about illicit capital flight. Following high-profile scandals involving Liechtenstein and Switzerland, the Group of 20 nations has demanded greater co-operation in tackling the shadow financial system.
Though there are different views on the Global Financial Integrity numbers that the BJP cites, getting the money back to India is not going to be an easy task
The Swiss authorities have never considered tax evasion a reason for breaking banking secrecy on an account; what they have acknowledged now is that they will cooperate in cases of tax fraud, which has a tighter definition.
G20's success will hinge on outcome of follow-up measures
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India is in favour of sharing tax information and monitoring tax havens more closely.
European champions Spain continued to set the standard on Saturday when they along with Italy, Germany and the Netherlands took a significant stride towards next year's World Cup finals. Spain, FIFA's top-ranked team, beat Turkey 1-0 in Madrid to stretch their unbeaten run to 30 matches and make it 15 points out of 15 in Group Five before they travel to Istanbul for the return fixture on Wednesday.
Despite the assurances of UK Chancellor Alistair Darling that 'markets could have confidence that countries will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to tackle the global slowdown', there is still no agreement on how long the recession will last and whether it will turn into the classic deflation with its attendant massive social unrest.
Goals from strikers Roman Pavlyuchenko and Pavel Pogrebnyak gave Russia a 2-1 win over Wales in their World Cup Group Four qualifier on Wednesday.
European countries begin their campaigns to reach the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa on Saturday.
Michael Ballack will miss Germany's World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Finland through injury.
The Indian government has received sensitive information from its German counterpart regarding tax evaders, who have channelled money in a tax haven bank in Liechtenstein, a small European country known for hosting such banks, and it is unwilling to make these details public.
Switzerland midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta has declared himself fit for Saturday's Euro 2008 opener against Czech Republic after returning to full training with the squad.
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