Searching Black money is like peeling onion

The issue of Indians hoarding black money in Swiss Bank and in other tax havens has been a political issue for so many years. Financial experts have estimated the black money at Rs 70,000 crore. In a recent development the Supreme Court has decided to force the center’s hand by asking the Special Investigation Team to consider registration of omnibus criminal cases to expedite prosecution. The entire opposition parties made it a poll issue for 2014 election. It was Prime Minister Modi’s theme song.

Hoarding black money in tax havens has been going on for decades and the initiative to get back the black money has become more intense recently. Electronic media make a ruckus over it. Politicians and traders who stashed black money in safe Swiss vaults and other undefined destinations are asking Modi government to find it out. It looks more like the game of hidden treasure when one group hides some items and the other group hunts it out. Politicians who had kept the money are quietly amused with the futile attempts of the NDA government to dig out black money. It supplies enough fodder to the opposition leaders who very well know getting black money is like getting Parijat flower. In the Mahabharat epic, Draupadi asked Mahabali Bhim to get her Parijat flowers. Bhim in spite of knowing the difficulty went out to fetch the flower. Ultimately he got the flower for Draupadi with the guidance of Lord Hanuman.

Now recovering black money from foreign banks is not an easy task the way it was told by political leaders, social activists and intellectuals. Tax experts have reportedly said that SC directive to share the names of overseas account holders has raised worries about India's commitment to the confidentiality clause in various tax treaties and may impact remittances from the US. Searching for black money in foreign banks’ accounts is like peeling the onion. The people who had kept black money in Swiss Bank are not kids to keep there for investigation. They must have online transferred the money to other tax havens across the world, which are under the protection of some rich nations. Swiss Bank cannot give the details of transactions made by Indians and their relatives abroad in the last ten years. Black money hoarders might have closed their accounts by now. Swiss bank will not give the details of the closed accounts of the Indians. Prime Minister Modi like Mahabali Bhim had promised to bring back black money. Now he has to seek the support of Lord Hanuman to bring back black money.

India cannot dictate foreign banks for disclosure and the foreign banks cannot violate the disclosure norms. India still can try to bring back the names by joining the dots at home. There was flight of huge capital from India in the last ten years. There were massive scams in India. The NDA government can zero in on the scam stars and estimates the money looted. Once this estimate is finalized the scam stars’ modus operand has to be documented. Once every dot is joined the scan stars can be asked where they have kept the black money and who helped them in the operation. Land deal, coal sector, financial sector, telecom, infrastructure, zero interest loans to priority sector and aviation sector etc have generated huge black money. Skilled scam stars are still in the system to mop up money at opportune moment. It is high time to take systematic steps to know the last ten years transactions of Indians in the Swiss Banks and other overseas banks. One can find a dot by verifying the names of Indians and their relatives visited Switzerland and other tax havens in the last ten years. In fact, Swiss Bank is not exposed to dedicated audit or supervision. The global Banks’ source of funds and investment avenues should be known to all stakeholders. An International committee of financial experts should inspect the Swiss Bank to know in what way Swiss Bank is responsible for ruining the economy of developing nations. No bank in the world should be a part of money laundering racket.

By Sudhansu R Das