Bangalore: Key Team Anna member N Santosh
Hegde has said that it's foolish to expect blackmoney stashed
away in Swiss banks by Indians as they would have "cleaned
out" by now and transferred it to other tax havens.
"I am quite sure that money (blackmoney) is not there in
Swiss banks", the former Supreme Court judge told PTI here. "I
am quite confident (about it) because there is no restraint on
depositors to take the money away from there. I am sure they
would have transferred it to other tax havens".
But he said that the government should get from Swiss
authorities the names of Indians who have kept their money
there, which would be a "strong piece of evidence" against
them in terms of contravention of Foreign Exchange Regulation
Act and tax evasions. "That's an offence by itself".
The former Karnataka Lokayukta added: "...the way they
(the Government) are dragging their feet (on the issue of
blackmoney)....itself shows big people are there involved in
stashing away slush money".
Hegde said he has no doubt that Indian offenders would
have "cleaned out" their blackmoney in Swiss banks, adding, it
would be foolish on their part if they still kept it there.
He recalled that the Swiss government had disclosed in
October 2008 itself that Swiss banks are holding USD 1,456
billion (overall global figure).
"Now to say that it's still there...it's foolish", he
said. If India is able to get the names of offenders and
their account details, it will enable the Government to proceed
against them and trace the money that was transferred," Hegde
added.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 09, 2011, 18:12