‘Swiss bank’ accounts bleeding the country

‘Swiss bank’ accounts bleeding the country
by B.R. Lall

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080712/edit.htm#8



Transparency International India recently exposed how the Indian Government is not seeking information from the German Government about billions of dollars of un-accounted money that belongs to the people of India, lying in Liechtenstein, a small German county.



A number of other countries like the USA, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Italy, the UK and Ireland, whose nationals are also included in the same list, are seriously collecting information about their citizens.



As per Transparency International, if asked, the German Government has offered to provide information on accounts to various nations the world over including India, free of cost, but India refuses to take the offer.



I had foreseen this attitude of the government, pointing out clearly in my book Who Owns CBI: The Naked Truth that, “it will not be easy to take any step in this direction, as the first obstacle will come from Indian elites, who are holding such accounts/assets abroad. They will oppose any such move tooth and nail. But no meaningful fight against corruption, black money and plethora of economic offences can be really successful without such radical measures.”



I had attempted the analysis in the context of Switzerland alone and had assessed Indian wealth in that single country at $5 trillion. There are some other well known ‘slush parks’ like St Kitts, Antigua, Bahamas, and Isle of Man that multiply such holdings manifold. Of course, Switzerland remains the roof and crown of the slush parks and if Indian wealth lying there is added and can be brought home, we will turn into one of the top, rich nations on the globe.



Indian resources get transferred abroad where these are invested to generate employment and incomes. Other countries develop and prosper at our cost. No wonder Switzerland has the second highest per capita income, with this criminal banking industry in the lead.

The holdings abroad cannot be checked as banks cover themselves with the veil of secrecy. However, the slush money arising out of the drug trade is being treated differently. If it is suspected that the money in a bank has some relation with the drug trade, the secrecy laws stand automatically relaxed, as these have been amended to that extent.



It was done on the insistence of the big western powers, as drugs are their problem. After the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, money held by terrorists has also been frozen. For countries like India, all economic offenders including the corrupt, as also the cooperating Swiss-bankers, are the ‘Financial Terrorists’ or their harbourers.

The major problem of the third world is corruption, and the secrecy laws aid and abet it. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the people of countries like Switzerland are more like receivers of stolen property and are leading a parasitic existence. This hypocrisy does not go well with their famed high stance on morality.



They should abandon such laws and make their banking business open and transparent. India should take up this question with Swiss banks, the western world and with all possible international organisations, including the UN, OECD etc.



Apart from bank accounts, another dimension is property or other assets that could be purchased abroad. Since the agency of one country cannot conduct investigations in another country, some rules need to be framed so that the particulars of deposits or properties held abroad could be known to the mother country, in the name of whose citizens these may stand.



Whenever a bank account is opened by an Indian citizen abroad, or property is purchased, the particulars should be communicated to the Indian authorities. All details should be maintained in a National Property Register.



In criminal cases, on instructions from the CBI, the accounts should automatically be frozen, the lockers, the properties and other assets sealed and ultimately these assets be disposed of as per directions of the Indian courts. For obtaining/supplying such information, the ‘dual criminality’ norm may not be insisted upon, as corruption is a crime everywhere, only some technical details may differ.



Once this happens, hiding black incomes abroad will become very difficult and practically impossible. The country expects action from the Prime Minister who is revered as an economist, as an academician and as an honest person.



It may be argued that the government will fall as most of the elites, including some of the civil servants, also hold such slush. The moot point is whether the PM owes his loyalty to such criminals or to the nation. What if the government of the day falls, the nation will surely rise.



The writer was an IPS officer