By IANS,
New Delhi : Through bilateral treaties, the Indian government has received crucial information on black money from Switzerland and other tax havens and would take action to bring back the money stashed abroad, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said Monday.
“We have led the world in this fight against black money and we have been taking it forward. We have signed agreements with many countries in this regard,” Khurshid said at a press conference here.
“We have been getting a lot of information through these agreements and after receiving the information, we have been taking action,” he said.
The minister said India was concerned about black money being used for anti-social activities like funding terrorism and drug trafficking.
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension V. Narayanasamy said Switzerland and other tax havens have committed to provide sufficient cooperation to help trace black money.
“Switzerland has given a commitment that they will give whatever information they have,” he said.
Narayanasamy said the Indian government, in association with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), is organising a regional conference to discuss issues related to black money and corruption.
“We are going to discuss multi-jurisdictional mechanism for the purpose of cooperation between the countries,” he said.
The anti-corruption conference will be held in New Delhi Sep 28-29.
President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate the event Sep 28, while Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will address the closing ceremony of the two-day conference, Narayanasamy said.