India seeks Swiss a/c details of Sathe’s kin

In the latest disclosure on suspected black money cases being probed by India, Switzerland on Wednesday said it has received a request for information about former union minister Vasant Sathe’s son and daughter-in-law.

The request for ‘administrative assistance’ in the case of Subhash Vasant Sathe and his wife Indrani Vasant Sathe has been disclosed by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) in its latest gazette notification about such matters.

While the FTA did not reveal specific information sought by the Indian authorities about the Sathe couple, the notification said they can appeal against sharing of details within 30 days with specific evidence under local Swiss laws.

This is the latest in a series of such disclosures made by the FTA about information requests from India and other countries with which Switzerland has mutual assistance treaties in tax-related cases.

The previous such disclosure was made last month about Indore-based textiles firm Neo Corp International Ltd. As part of its bilateral treaty for administrative assistance and exchange of information with Switzerland, India has sought details about numerous individuals and companies from the Alpine nation.

About a dozen such names have been disclosed so <g data-gr-id="25">far,</g> while many other requests are pending with the Swiss authorities who conduct their own due diligence before starting the process of sharing the information.  The notification about the concerned entity's right to appeal is generally the first step in the information exchange process. This is typically seen as the Swiss government <g data-gr-id="20">in-principle</g> agreeing to share the information.