With a Swiss bank agreeing to provide information to the United States about its account- holders, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday demanded that the United Progressive Alliance government seek details of Indians who have illegally stashed funds in Switzerland [Images] and other tax havens. The CPI-M politbureau said it is imperative that the UPA government demand details of Indian account holders from Swiss banks and banks in other tax havens.
"In the case of India, it is not only a case of tax evasion but also of funds being illegally stashed abroad, or used for money laundering," the CPI-M said in a statement.
The CPI-M reminded the government that UBS, the largest Swiss Bank, has agreed to provide information to the US of account holders who are suspected to have evaded taxes in America while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also called for such an action.
"If the government is serious about stopping black money and raising resources to meet growing economic crisis, it must take steps to bring back the unaccounted, or, ill-gotten wealth of Indians abroad," the party said.
The Swiss banks with secret accounts are known to hold substantial sum of money deposited by Indians, it said adding that "These funds amounting to billions of dollars were either illegally taken out of the country or deposited in Switzerland and other tax havens instead of being repatriated to India."
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