14 May,2009 08:47 AM IST | | Agencies
The government yesterday rejected as "politically motivated" the BJP charge that the UPA government had doctored documents given to Swiss authorities relating to deposits in a Swiss bank allegedly made by Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan.
In a statement, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma described the reports as false and misleading and said, "It would, therefore, be improper to suggest that the Indian government has forged any document or Government of India submitted forged documents. The insinuation that the Government of India doctored any document is false and contrary to facts."
The Enforcement Directorate, said a finance ministry statement, approached the Swiss government on the basis of documents seized from the premises of Khan in January, which turned out to be forged.
Rather than dropping the cases under the Income Tax Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act against Khan on the ground that documents seized were forged, the release said, "the concerned authorities of the government on the basis of various documents have actually gone ahead and initiated cases against Khan for his unauthorised dealing of $8 billion as well as under the IT Act."
Following up
One of the documents seized from Khan's premises revealed that he had around $8 billion deposits in UBS AG, with the permission to withdraw $6 billion. The document was declared forged by the Swiss bank.
Expressing concerns over the refusal of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration to share bank related information on grounds of Banking Secrecy Laws, the release said it was taking up the matter with the authorities.
"The government has already taken up the matter with the Swiss Government to re-negotiate Article 26 of the OECD model tax convention so that information can be received and even shared with other law enforcement agencies," it added.
The government, the release said, was making consistent and vigorous efforts to elicit information on illegal Indian money in Swiss bank accounts.
