In a major setback to the unrevealed Indians having Swiss bank accounts, the Switzerland government has decided to share their information in detail with the Indian administration.
The stern dispensation, from the Swiss, came in order to re-establish its global financial centre position. Also, there has been a significantly surge in the number of cases after the Swiss initiated the process to share information on Indian with bank accounts.
Moreover, the government has issued letters to about a dozen such individuals with Swiss bank accounts last week.
Globally known as an alleged safe haven for black money, Switzerland, unfortunately, failed to compete with the global pressure. As a result, it was bound to pull down its famed secrecy walls that has surrounded the Swiss banks and decided to reveal the details of the bank account holders.
Since March, at least 25 notices have been issued by the Swiss authorities to Indian clients of Switzerland-based banks in which they have been given one last chance to appeal against sharing of their details with India.
An analysis of the notices issued by the Federal Tax Administration, Switzerland government’s nodal department for sharing of information on foreign clients of Swiss banks, shows that the Swiss government has stepped up its efforts in sharing such details with a number of countries in the recent months, but the surge in India-related cases is noticeable in the past few weeks.
At least 11 such notices were issued to Indian nationals on May 21 itself, though the gazette notifications of the Swiss government has redacted full names for several of them while making public only their initials besides the nationality and the dates of birth.
The two Indians whose names have been mentioned in full are Krishna Bhagwan Ramchand (born in May 1949) and Kalpesh Harshad Kinariwala (born in September 1972). However, no further details have been disclosed about them as well.
In these notices, the individuals or their authorised representatives have been asked to file their appeals, if any, within 30 days with necessary documentary proof to support their case against providing ‘administrative assistance’ to India, which broadly means sharing of their banking and other financial details.