NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the government had initiated action to bring back unaccounted money stashed away in banks abroad.
In a brief response to a question by Prakash Javadekar of the BJP on the Congress promise during the election campaign to get back the money within 100 days, Dr. Singh said that “action has already been started” by his government.
Dr. Singh referred to the statement of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday, while responding to the debate on the Finance Bill. The issue dominated the poll campaign, with both the Congress and the BJP taking a tough stand.
Mr. Mukherjee told the House action was taken within 100 days. The country, he said, was going to accept the code prescribed by the G-8 countries, by which the exchange of information would take place and the legal framework adopted for the avoidance of double taxation.
The Finance Minister said every country had its own set of rules and countries like Switzerland had their own banking secrecy rules. However, in the context of the financial crisis, Switzerland had agreed to share information provided there was a legal framework and proof that such information was needed for tax collection and not for any other purpose.
“Therefore, action to bring back the money, which has been stashed away, is also being taken,” the Minister said.
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