Corruption Watch

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<b>‘Swiss bank’ accounts bleeding the country</b>
by B.R. Lall

<b>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.</b>

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, <b>as the first obstacle will come from Indian elites, who are
holding such accounts/assets abroad</b>. 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.”

<b>I had attempted the analysis in the context of Switzerland alone and had
assessed Indian wealth in that single country at $5 trillion.</b> 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 b y 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 se aled
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.