Swiss banks have provided client details to US, but they have said India is not welcome there on a name-fishing expedition. “Swiss law and even OECD’s Model Tax Convention do not permit fishing expeditions, in other words, the indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting. “This means that India cannot simply throw its telephone book at Switzerland and ask if any of these people have a bank account here,” a top official at Swiss Bankers Association said. Last week, the US reached an agreement with Switzerland, under which top Swiss bank UBS gave details of 4,450 secret accounts to the Internal Revenue Service.
The secrecy shield provided by Swiss banks have always been a big issue in India, including during the campaign for this year’s general elections, and the government recently said that it has approached Switzerland seeking details about bank accounts held by Indians there. The official noted that the Swiss bankclient confidentiality has never been 100% absolute and Swiss legislators have built in provisions for it to be lifted during criminal investigations and also in many civil cases and it has also evolved over time. so this will be a reason for big smile for many indian politician and industrialist.
The secrecy shield provided by Swiss banks have always been a big issue in India, including during the campaign for this year’s general elections, and the government recently said that it has approached Switzerland seeking details about bank accounts held by Indians there. The official noted that the Swiss bankclient confidentiality has never been 100% absolute and Swiss legislators have built in provisions for it to be lifted during criminal investigations and also in many civil cases and it has also evolved over time. so this will be a reason for big smile for many indian politician and industrialist.
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