India's fight against suspected black money stashed abroad will get a major boost this September in the form of first set of detailed financial information about all Indians having Swiss bank accounts, including those closed since last year.
Money parked by Indian individuals and enterprises in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches, fell by nearly 6 per cent in 2018 to 955 million Swiss francs (about Rs 6,757 crore) to hit its second-lowest level in over two decades, Swiss National Bank data showed Thursday.
Urging the Centre to take strict action against economic fugitives, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday said mere talking was not enough and that the government can not run away from its responsibility to check black money.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Nirmala Sitharaman said prosecution has been launched in 68 cases.
Unaccounted wealth outside the country held by Indians was estimated in the range of USD 216.48 billion to USD 490 billion over various periods between 1980 and 2010, according to three separate studies conducted by three premier institutes -- NIPFP, NCAER and NIFM.
Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) vice chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat Tuesday suggested appropriate amendments in existing tax laws to curb the use of money power to win elections.
The Centre on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court order, which has ruled that the black money law can't have a retrospective effect, that is, it cannot be applied prior to April 1, 2016, as fixed by Parliament.
Replying to an RTI query, the Finance Ministry said India and Switzerland share information on black money on a case to case basis as per the investigations being carried out.
The top court reserved verdict on the plea of an NGO which has challenged the validity of the scheme and has sought that either the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or the names of donors be made public to ensure transparency in the poll process.
Making its submission in this regard to the apex court, the Centre justified why anonymity is a positive step in countering the flow of black money in the system.
These estimates were based on various unverifiable assumptions and approximations, it had said.
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He also added that clean elections are like a “well spring of legitimacy” for the leadership and the people of the country and if this was contaminated by such issues, the common man becomes “cynical” about the entire system, which is an area of concern.
"It appears through these chain of documents that Kingfisher Airlines was owned not by Vijay Mallya but by the Gandhi family," Sambit Patra said
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According to a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry, the two ministers took stock of the progress made in key areas of interest such as trade and investment, education, information technology and tourism.
“Earlier data that claimed 50 per cent increase was misinterpreted,” said the finance minister in Rajya Sabha.
In a Facebook blog, Arun Jaitley pointed out that those who participate in a public discourse must understand basic facts before expressing an opinion which may be ill-informed.
Rahul Gandhi reminded PM Modi that he had promised to bring back all illegal money stashed abroad and “deposit Rs 15 lakh in each Indian bank account”.
Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50 per cent to CHF 1.01 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017, reversing a three-year downward trend amid India's clampdown on suspected black money stashed there
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