Swiss govt refuses to kiss and tell
31 Oct 2014 5:52 AM IST
While replying to Millennium Post’s e-mailed queries over the controversial issue, Mario Tuor, Head of Communications, SIF (Federal Department of Finance), based in Berne, said, ‘The information exchanged under the terms of the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) can be provided to a court in situations where it is dealing with a specific case related to tax matters for which this information is relevant.’ The communication head of the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters of the Swiss Finance Ministry (SIF) further said, ‘Information cannot be disclosed in principal to a court or another body outside of such proceedings.’
SIF’s comments come at a time when the apex court monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing alleged stashing of black money by Indians aboard, including in Swiss banks. While promising to extend assistance to India under the provision of the ‘treaty’, Tuor said, ‘Exchange of information on tax matters between India and Switzerland is based on the DTA and the protocol that the two countries signed in 2010. It has been in force since October 2011.’
‘As per the protocol, any information received by a Contracting State shall be treated as secret in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of the state and shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) concerned with the assessment or collection of the enforcement or prosecution in respect of or the determination of appeals in relation to the taxes,’ Tuor said while adding that such persons or authorities shall use the information ‘ONLY’ for such purpose.
The government on Wednesday gave to the Supreme Court a list of 627 names of Indians with accounts in a Swiss branch of HSBC bank, on which probe for suspected black money is underway. While this list was given in ‘sealed envelopes’, three other names were made public a day earlier as prosecution had been launched against those persons. Since then there has been a debate on whether disclosure of names, without prosecution, could violate tax treaties under which these names and other details are shared by foreign countries.
SIF’s comments come at a time when the apex court monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing alleged stashing of black money by Indians aboard, including in Swiss banks. While promising to extend assistance to India under the provision of the ‘treaty’, Tuor said, ‘Exchange of information on tax matters between India and Switzerland is based on the DTA and the protocol that the two countries signed in 2010. It has been in force since October 2011.’
‘As per the protocol, any information received by a Contracting State shall be treated as secret in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of the state and shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) concerned with the assessment or collection of the enforcement or prosecution in respect of or the determination of appeals in relation to the taxes,’ Tuor said while adding that such persons or authorities shall use the information ‘ONLY’ for such purpose.
The government on Wednesday gave to the Supreme Court a list of 627 names of Indians with accounts in a Swiss branch of HSBC bank, on which probe for suspected black money is underway. While this list was given in ‘sealed envelopes’, three other names were made public a day earlier as prosecution had been launched against those persons. Since then there has been a debate on whether disclosure of names, without prosecution, could violate tax treaties under which these names and other details are shared by foreign countries.
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