Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that 60 prosecutions on black money have been launched.
“Govt has put in vigorous efforts towards digging black money during the last six-seven months,” Jaitley said.
Reacting to an investigative report by a newspaper that 1,195 Indians are holding account in HSBC bank's Geneva branch list, Jaitley said that most of the names revealed in the list today are known to the government.
Some new names have been revealed whose veracity would be checked by authorities, he added, while reiterating that the government has to first gather evidence before prosecuting the account holders.
“I had met top Swiss authorities in Davos, agreed with them that admission by assessees would be considered additional evidence,” the FM said.
an Indian newspaper has revealed that the number of Indians holding black money in Swiss Bank is actually double than what has been obtained by the Indian government.
In case of suspected black money abroad, the disclosure related to a list of 628 Indians, who figured on a list of HSBC account-holders that India had got from the French government. However, the news paper, in its investigative report has said that 1,195 Indians are holding account.
The government has recently initiated tax evasion prosecution proceedings against them as part of its crackdown on black money accounts as reported in the HSBC bank's Geneva branch list.
The paper further said that the account holders with illicit money stashed abroad comprises businessmen, diamond traders, politicians and NRIs/PIOs.
The paper in its finding has mentioned several top businessmen including Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Anand Chand Burman, Rajan Nanda, Yashovardhan Birla, Chandru Lachhmandas Raheja, Dattaraj Salgaocar, Bhadrashyam Kothari and Shravan Gupta who are HSBC account-holders.
The paper further said that the total balance in these accounts is Rs 25,420 crore.
As per details available with Zee Media, Manu Chabaria family has balance of Rs 874 crore, Mukesh Ambani Rs 164.9 crore, Anil Ambani Rs 164.92 crore, Burman Family Rs 164.92 crore, Smita Thackeray Rs 64 lakh, Anu Tandan Rs 36 crore and Tikam Das Rs 251.7 crore in the HSBC account.
With Agency Inputs
