AMN
A key parliamentary panel in Switzerland has approved a pact for automatic exchange of information with India on financial accounts. The pact will help provide a continuous access to details about alleged black money hoarders in once-all-secret Swiss banks.
The Commission for Economic Affairs and Taxes of the Council of States — a key panel of the Swiss Parliament’s Upper House — approved the proposed pact with India as also with 40 other countries. The proposal will now be submitted for approval from the upper chamber of Swiss Parliament.
A report says the exchange of information under this framework will work like this — If an Indian has a bank account in Switzerland, the bank concerned will disclose the financial account data to authorities there; the Swiss authority will automatically forward the information to its peer in India who can then examine the person’s details.
The pact proposes automatic information exchange with effect from next year and first exchange of information in 2019. It was approved by the Lower House of Swiss Parliament in September. The issue of black money has been a matter of big debate in India, and Switzerland has been long perceived as one of the safest havens for the illicit wealth allegedly stashed abroad by Indians.