NEW DELHI, Oct 15:
As India’s government and tax officials meet their counterparts in Switzerland, Swiss Ambassador Linus von Castelmur today said his country is fully co-operating with the authorities here on tax matters.
An Indian delegation, led by Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das, is in Berne today to meet Swiss officials as both sides look to resolve tax matters, including those related to alleged illicit wealth stashed by Indian citizens in banks in Switzerland.
Emphasising that Switzerland is “fully co-operating with Indian authorities” on tax matters, Castelmur said the issues of the past should be addressed in a pragmatic way while respecting international obligations.
About the meeting of delegations from two sides in Berne, Castelmur said it is about co-operation in the economic field between the two nations.
“We are very happy that Das is in Berne today and we wish him very good and for dialogue between the two delegations. We wish them well that issues will be solved… I think problems in the future would be solved very easily,” the Swiss Ambassador to India said here.
The visit comes amid Swiss government refusing to share information on list of names obtained by Indian authorities through other nations, namely France and Germany, saying they figured in lists stolen by certain ex-employees of the banks concerned and that no details can be shared on the basis of illegally-obtained information.
“We still have problems of the past and cannot make undone 20, 30, 40 years of the past. I think we have to work on that in a pragmatic way in respecting our international obligations but also our eternal rule of law,” Castelmur said.
Noting that Swiss authorities are fully co-operating with India, he said, however, there is a problem about requests on stolen data.
“Switzerland is working on a case to case basis with Indian authorities. When there is a case when a request is placed, we will certainly examine that matter,” he noted.
The Ambassador was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by industry body ASSOCHAM.
Castelmur said that both Joint Economic Commission and the Financial Dialogue are scheduled to take place in Berne during this month and next month.
Besides, the Political Dialogue is “foreseen for November”, he added.
“I am confident that the intensification of interaction between our two governments and authorities will soon spur our economic relations and translate into more trade and investment on both sides,” he said.
Indian and Swiss authorities have been in talks for quite some time on the matter of alleged black money parked by Indian citizens in banks in Switzerland.
In July, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had informed Parliament that Switzerland has raised some legal issues with regard to providing details of Indian citizens who have parked illegal funds in Swiss banks.
Asserting that the government was making all efforts to get details of such accounts, Jaitley had also said it was collecting evidence in this regard.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT), chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice M B Shah, is looking into the menace of black money. (PTI)
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