NEW DELHI: The I-T department has detected over Rs 19,000 crore in black money following investigations into global leaks including HSBC account holders in Switzerland, the government said on Friday. Finance minister said investigations into information, put into public domain by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, pertaining to about 700 Indian persons allegedly linked to offshore entities based in no tax or low tax jurisdiction, have led to detection of more than Rs 11,010 crore of credits in undisclosed accounts.
“72 prosecution complaints in 31 such cases have been filed before the criminal courts,” he informed the Lok Sabha. The ICIJ claims to have a cache of nearly 2.5 million files detailing offshore holdings of people and companies in more than 170 countries that “has cracked open the secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con men and the mega-rich the world over.”
The government constituted a multi-agency group in April 2016 for facilitation coordinated and speedy investigation in the cases of Indian persons allegedly having undisclosed foreign assets and whose names were reportedly included in Panama papers leak. He further said that information on 628 Indians holding bank accounts in HSBC bank in Switzerland was received from the government of France under the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention between India and France.
In 2006, Herve Falciani, an ex-employee of HSBC Geneva, had leaked a list of bank accounts to the French government which included more than 600 Indians suspected to be stashing illegitimate money in Swiss banks.
