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Prominent Indian names appear on list of Swiss account holders: report

The total balance from over 200 countries is over $100 billion

New Delhi: An investigation has revealed the names of 1,195 Indian HSBC bank account holders, roughly double the 628 names that French authorities gave to the Government in 2011.

The investigation, published in The Indian Express, is based on leaks from the HSBC's Swiss banking unit.

Along with the names, the report called Swiss Leaks, also disclosed their balances for the year 2006-07. The total balance from over 200 countries is over $100 billion.

Names of several top businessmen and prominent people surfaced in the report including Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Anand Chand Burman, Rajan Nanda, Yashovardhan Birla, Chandru Lachhmandas Raheja, Dattaraj Salgaocar, Bhadrashyam Kothari and Shravan Gupta.

Names of top diamond traders from India have also figured in the report – Rusell Mehta, Anoop Mehta, Saunak Parikh, Chetan Mehta, Govindbhai Kakadia and Kunal Shah. Many of them have now settled abroad.

The report also names few politicians, 'most of whom are in denial'. There is former UPA minister Preneet Kaur, former Congress MP Annu Tandon, wife and son of former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane and family members of late Congress minister Vasant Sathe. Even Bal Thackeray’s daughter-in-law Smita Thackeray is also named in the report.

Among the NRIs/PIOs, prominent names include Swraj Paul, members of Manu Chhabria’s family, Rajendra Ruia/Vimal Ruia and Naresh Kumar Goyal.

When informed about the global investigation, HSBC insisted that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) destroy its data.

Later, HSBC said: “We acknowledge that the compliance culture and standards of due diligence in HSBC’s Swiss private bank, as well as the industry in general, were significantly lower than they are today.”

The bank added, “As a result of this repositioning, HSBC’s Swiss private bank has reduced its client base by almost 70% since 2007.”

The investigation was carried out by Paris-based Le Monde newspaper and ICIJ in collaboration with The Indian Express in India. They worked on a three-month-long global project and have revealed the names of 1,195 Indian HSBC clients.

( Source : dc )
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