Black money: Information can't be disclosed outside specific proceedings, says Swiss govt

New DelhiBerne Amid a debate on disclosure of names of suspected black money holders Switzerland today said information exchanged under SwissIndia tax treaty cannot be disclosed in principle to a court or any other body outside the proceedings of a specific and relevant caseThe comments come at a time when a Supreme Courtmonitored Special Investigation Team is probing alleged stashing ofblack money by Indians aboard including Swiss banksSwitzerland long accused of being a safe haven for illicit funds has promised to extend assistance to India andreply to requests for information in a timebound manner on cases of alleged tax evasion and financial crimes or provide a reason if no information can be sharedExplaining the treaty provisions about disclosure of such secret information a Swiss Finance Ministry spokespersontold PTI from Berne that authorities from the two countries are having regular contacts on bilateral tax matters but refused to comment on particular casesThe government yesterday gave to the Supreme Court a list of 627 Indians with accounts in a Swiss branch of HSBC bank on which probe for suspected black money is underwayWhile this list was given in sealed envelopes three other names were made public a day earlier as prosecution hadbeen launched against those personsThere has been a debate on whether disclosure of names without prosecution could violate tax treaties under whichthese names and other details are shared by foreign countriesReplying to queries in this regard the Swiss Federal Department of Finance spokesperson said that the protocol toSwissIndian DTA Double Taxation Agreement states that any information received by a contracting state shall be treated as secret in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of that stateThe treaty further provides that any such information shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities includingcourts and administrative bodies concerned with the assessment or collection of information the enforcement orprosecution in respect of or the determination of appeals in relation to the taxes or the oversight of the aboveThe Swiss Finance Ministry spokesperson further said the treaty states that such persons or authorities shall use the information only for such purposes They may disclose the information in public court proceedings or in judicial decisionsAccordingly the information exchanged under the terms of the DTA can be provided to a Court in situations where itis dealing with a specific case related to tax matters for which this information is relevant Conversely information cannot be disclosed in principle to a Court or another body outside of such proceedings the official addedThe spokesperson however declined to comment on particular cases citing the confidentiality provisions of the SwissIndian DTAWe can nevertheless inform you that the relevant authorities of Switzerland and India have regular contacts onbilateral tax matters the Swiss official addedThe exchange of information on tax matters between India and Switzerland is based on the double taxation agreementDTA and the protocol that was signed in 2010 between the two countries It has been in force since October 2011This agreement is in line with the international standards and provides for exchange of information onrequest the spokesperson saidThe list of 627 persons with accounts in a Swiss branch of HSBC bank was received by India from the French government while it had earlier got another list of Indians with suspected black money accounts from Germany