Headlines
Black money abroad: 350 accounts assessed, 60 cases filed
The central government has
completed assessment of 350 foreign accounts while tax-evasion
proceedings have been initiated against 60 such holders as part of its
crackdown on black money accounts, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said
Monday.
Reacting to a media report that over 1,100 Indians were
in the list of clients who held accounts in HSBC bank's Geneva branch
from 2006-2007, Jaitley said: "The details that have come out today
(Monday) are the ones we already have."
"The question is not
about names but evidences that we need. Some new names have been
revealed whose veracity would be checked by authorities," he said.
He added that 60 cases have been established through an independent probe by the income tax department.
Jaitley said the assessment of the balance accounts will get completed by March 31.
The minister said the government could not proceed on the "Swiss leaks" reports on the basis of some names.
The
government had submitted the a list of about 628 such account holders
to the Special Investigation Team appointed for the recovery of black
money by the Supreme Court.
The authorities, in December, said in
case of money stashed in foreign accounts, the disclosure relates to
628 Indians, who figured on a list of account holders in HSBC's Geneva
branch that India has obtained from the France.
Of these, no balance has been found in 289 accounts, according to the SIT report submitted to the Supreme Court.
"Out
of the 628 persons, 201 are either non-residents or non-traceable,
leaving 427 cases as actionable," the report said. "An amount of
Rs.2,926 crore has been brought to tax towards the undisclosed balances
in the accounts (79)."