HSBC whistleblower Herve Falciani making ‘wrong hue and cry’: India

Rejecting HSBC whistleblower Herve  Falciani’s accusation that the Indian authorities are sitting on black money information, India on Tuesday said he is raising a “wrong hue and cry” and asserted that details on illicit funds should be shared without any pre-condition.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley emphasised that the government would “take action” on the illicit fund menace and said that the government had offered a reward in exchange for information to Falciani.

The chairman of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, MB Shah, said that India is prepared to extend full cooperation to Falciani and other whistleblowers in its fight against black money. Shah said:  “He is not giving a reply. He has created a wrong hue and cry. We want to tell him that please give it (information) to SIT or to the government or to a journalist,” he said. A former HSBC bank employee turned whistleblower, Falciani, had on Monday said a “lot of information” on illicit funds is lying unused by the Indian authorities, adding that he was willing to “cooperate” with the investigative agencies in their black money probe but would need “protection”.