If two people sit on either side talk on TV with someone standing in the middle can be called a debate then we had one on Headlines Today news channel said to be a Birla Company.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/upa-should-have-cancelled-2g-licences-after-scam-chidambaram/1/399701.html

Jaitley and Chidambaram, the incumbent and former Finance Ministers respectively were the two supposed to debate. Karan Thapar standing in the middle looked more like an attender than a moderator. But we do not why Rajdeep Sardesai laid one chair on the dais and sat as if he was the owner of the Headlines Today news channel. He launched his book during the debate to get free advertisement

There was no "versus" between the two politicians, but only a stage appearance together to show that all was well on the Black Money Front and the money bags need not worry whether any harm would happen to their ill gotten wealth.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tax-trouble-Abhishek-Manu-Singhvi-faces-Rs-57-crore-fine/articleshow/45116895.cms

Abishek Singhvi, famous Supreme Court lawyer and Congress spokesperson has not shown income to the tune of 93 crores according to news channel reports. He has been slapped a fine of 56 crores. Singhvi appears to have signed 18,000 vouchers within 2 months and bought laptops equivalent to 1250 numbers worth rupees 5 crores on a single day. He seem to have pleaded that his records were eaten by white ants.The news reports came in trickles unlike for a 2G Raja or a Vadra.May be the news room staff had to take permission from their owners for telecast every time as people would get reminded the subject of Black Money.

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We do not know why Modi should raise the black money issue at the G20, while even a fortnight earlier his FM Jaitley, had withdrawn from a 51 nation treaty to share information on the black money holders.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/Modi-Raises-Black-Money-Issue-at-G20-Summit/2014/11/16/article2526008.ece

Before making drama in front of G20 leaders it will be better for our rulers to ask themselves whether they had taken any meaningful action against white collar criminals indulging in economic offences.

Take for instance our Sathyam Raju, who and his family members are said to have raked in 2000 crores, was arrested after his own confession only a early as 2009, but the CBI has reluctantly filed charge sheet only in August 2014. Meanwhile, Raju has been visiting one hospital after another to take best medical care of his own health.

On the other hand in the USA, people like Rajat Gupta and Rajarathnam who were arrested around the same 2009/2010 have been sent to jail within 10 months and fined million dollars

When the French and the German governments were offering for free the info. on the black money holders, the then MMS/UPA government rushed to their country to conclude a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement to avoid disclosing their names to our people.

The Indian government as far as action against illegal wealth hoarders are concerned are already tied hand and feet, and by this DTA Agreement zipped themselves at their lips.

And our FM is happily citing this Agreement for not releasing the offenders names let alone take action against them.

Meanwhile, the gullible people in India are living in poverty and having tragic deaths like the one suffered by 14 women who underwent sterilization in Chatisgarh. The small small children, milling around their mothers makes it a heart wrenching sight. If only the black money hoarders had parted some morsels from their millions, those mothers would have had a safe and hygienic surgery, instead of the animal camp deaths suffered by them.

All those participating in the economic offences and their legal heirs would definitely have to answer God Almighty some day, if not the judiciary.

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DE-RISKING... LAYERING and FINAL INTEGRATION..?? When such money, a large sum leaves SWISS Banks, it will hit their economy a lot and so they are making all kinds of provisions to soften the blow to themselves.

Swiss banks brace for black money probe. By PTI Nov 03 2014, Berne/New Delhi, Tags: News

Swiss banks brace for black money probe. :
As the probe into suspe­cted black money stas­hed abroad by Indians gathers steam, banks in Switzerland are bolstering safeguards to protect their interest while some are considering financial provisions in their books for possible penal action and legal costs.

Senior executives at various banks, including three large ones headquartered in Switzerland and the Swiss units of some major European banks, said they are considering making financial provisions as anticipatory measures to deal with any action involving them in India’s black money probe.

Swiss National Bank’s latest data pegged the total money held by Indians in Swiss banks at over Rs 14,000 crore as of December 2013, up nearly 42 per cent from a year ago.

A number of Swiss banks, including three with significant global presence, have begun telling their Indian clients to sign undertakings that are aimed at ‘derisking’ the banking institutions from potential risks arising out of regulatory actions against bank customers by foreign governments.

Through these ‘derisking’ undertakings, the customer agrees to take responsibility for any possible regulatory or administrative compliance with international norms.

Some banks are telling their clients to close the accounts if they are not ready to take such risks, or if they have apprehensions about such accounts not being compliant to regulatory requirements in their home countries.

Some are said to be advising their Indian clients to use various ‘layering’ methods, including by way of share market and export-import routes, to move funds from Switzerland to other locations, including India.

Other risk-wary banks have turned cautious in dealing with their Indian clients in the wake of growing scrutiny of such accounts, as a huge public outcry has made even genuine Swiss bank accounts look suspicious.

Banks are also lobbying with the Swiss government to insist on putting in place necessary measures in their information-exchange and administrative assistance frameworks with India for safeguarding the interest of the banking institutions during the subsequent prosecution and other legal or regulatory proceedings in the black money cases.

They are said to be pushing the Swiss government to ask the Indian authorities to put in place a ‘settlement’ mechanism to deal with suspected entities, including the banks and their customers, before seeking any assistance in its black money probe.

Following the visit of a high-level delegation from India, Switzerland last month agreed to cooperate on matters related to verification of genuineness of accounts and reply to requests for banking account details in a time-bound manner, and also to initiate a process to include India among the countries eligible for ‘automatic exchange of information’.

Under this new agreement, Switzerland has also promised to assist Indian authorities on a priority basis.

Sources said the role of some banks, as also of certain bankers, has already come under scanner for acting in concert with the suspected black money hoarders and also for making ‘safe haven’ promises for their funds.

The suspected lapses on the part of at least three large European banks, including two from Switzerland itself and the third having a significant presence in the Alpine nation, are also being probed for allegedly facilitating re-routing of funds of certain Indian companies back into their listed entities as foreign investments.

Capital market watchdog Sebi is probing at least three large global banks and many Indian companies for alleged round-tripping of funds by way of multi-layered transactions, while the regulatory noose has tightened further in these cases with the involvement of other regulatory and enforcement agencies.

Such transactions are suspected to have taken place in case of 15-20 Indian companies, a senior official said, but refused to disclose their names as also that of the banks, saying it might impede the investigations.

Portfolio managers at some banks with significant presence in the Indian financial market could have helped clients route money back into the country as foreign funds using investment vehicles across jurisdictions.

So far, the focus of the Supreme Court-monitored probe has remained focused on persons and entities from India suspected to have stashed illicit wealth in overseas locations including Swiss banks.

However, as the probe moves further, including by a special investigation team (SIT) with two former Supreme Court judges as chairman and vice-chairman along with members from various investigative and regulatory agencies, banks are turning wary about possible action against them going ahead.

There are also apprehensions that many banks may be advising their clients to move the funds through gold, diamond and other routes. A new strategy of 'layering' has also come to light at Swiss banks to thwart any attempt for identification of real beneficiary owners of funds entrusted with them, government and banking sources say.

‘Layering’ is the key stage in money laundering and involves moving illicit funds around the financial system through a complex series of deals to complicate the paper trail.This layering typically takes place between the first stage – placement of black money in the financial system either in cash vaults, or through a series of cash or sham financial transactions – and before the final ‘integration’ stage when the money is put back into the financial system through various transactions for the benefit of its final recipient.

Looks like a long and drawn out process to bring it all back into India. Also there are too many Indians involved in this. A bunch of Lawyers will make money through the Government channels working for them. And another bunch will work for the Money Launderers defending them.

Whether you are born or dead, win or lose, the Doctor, the Lawyer and the Clergy gets his share coming and going.!! What is left after that to share amidst us ZILCH.

But it will be interesting to know how many ways they moved the money out of the country.

FH.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Full House

Whether you are born or dead, win or lose, the Doctor, the Lawyer and the Clergy gets his share coming and going.!! What is left after that to share amidst us ZILCH.

FH.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by ramar2005

Quote:

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Originally posted by Full House

Whether you are born or dead, win or lose, the Doctor, the Lawyer and the Clergy gets his share coming and going.!! What is left after that to share amidst us ZILCH.

FH.

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Thanks FH. Your write up as ever was very informative. My anger is only because of the events like that of the death of 14 women during a medical camp having poor facilities.

Your above quote is very true.

Isn't there any '''vimochana'' for the people of our country?
May be someone like Mahatma from South Africa must turn from America.

We pinned our hopes on Modi and it is evaporating in front of our eyes because of people like Jaitley around, who seem agents for these illegal wealth hoarders

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WHERE THE CURRENT SITUATION IS ACCORDING TO EXPERTS...:

After much hyped hue and cry about retrieving the stacked up back money, Special Investigation team (SIT) found that 300 of the 618 accounts in the HSBC have no cash, and most of the names were repeated, as reported by Rediff. This hampered the whole investigation as HSBC is technically not at fault. The SIT is in the process of finding a way out to track down the details of the account holders. In spite of having many laws and regulations in place to curb black money in India, it continues to persist.

Generally, black money is generated in two ways.... Firstly, legal income that is unaccounted for and secondly, money that is earned from illegal sources like smuggling, drug trafficking and other such activities. There are also certain ways through which Non Resident Indians (NRI) become the source of black money

There is also no specific term to refer to such black money, as the meaning changes as per the scenario and varying methods. “Black money has many pseudo names which include, 'unaccounted income', 'black income', 'dirty money', 'black wealth', 'underground wealth', 'black economy', 'parallel economy', 'shadow economy', and 'underground' or 'unofficial' economy.” These terms pretty much sum up how black money is resourced in India. Mostly it is unaccounted income and NO tax has been paid on such income.

Therefore, before we crackdown the black money issue in India, it would be informative to look at some of these laws and acts which regulates black money:

1) Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002: This is a money laundering law that is formulated to check hoarding of black money. People who are proved to be holding black money are liable to punishment. The act says that whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge in any activity that is connected to proceeds of crime and projecting it as un-attained property shall be guilty of offence of money laundering. They would be liable to three years of rigorous imprisonment along with fine and declaiming the money that they laundered.

2) Prevention of Corruption Act: Any public servant of any level who accepts a gift or any kind of gratification from a second party apart from the legal remuneration will be subject to the act. He/she shall be punishable by imprisonment for term not less than six months and can go up to five years or more along with fine.

3)Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985: This act has been enacted with a view to make stringent provisions for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Regulations to the Non Resident Indians: Likewise, there are many laws that comply to the NRIs as well. Corporate law experts say tax authorities are more likely to verify whether foreign currency accounts held by resident and non-resident Indians comply with the foreign exchange regulations. Also, no person resident in India is allowed to open any foreign currency account without approval of the Reserve Bank of India.

There is an act called FEMA, which states... However, someone who is resident in India is permitted to open a bank account in a foreign bank if he or she has to engage in any current or capital account transaction, and must remit the money from India as prescribed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) of 1999. Lots of Businesses do that.

According to corporate lawyers, if any foreign account holder violates Indian laws regulating the flow of foreign currency, tax authorities can enforce repatriation of such funds, including funds required to recover the unpaid taxes, in addition to the penalty under FEMA.

In addition, specific provisions under the Income Tax Act, 1961 could also be applied if the case so demands. Any non-payment or under-payment of tax is subject to interest and penalty. The fine could go up to three times the amount of tax evaded.

By the Income Tax Act, any Indian citizen who holds money abroad on which tax was owed but not paid becomes liable to pay tax, interest, and penalty. The penalty could be as high as 300 percent of the tax that was avoided. This is how they propose to bring all of the moneys that is floating outside of India, in Foreign Exchange.

Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements:India’s efforts to bring back the black money stacked abroad in foreign currency accounts are hampered by bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) signed between (with) those countries. DTAA is a bilateral agreement between two countries which aims to avoid or eliminate double taxation of same income in two countries.

** Corporate tax experts say the confidentiality provisions of these DTAAs generally allow disclosure or use of information only for tax purposes. Most countries have generally refused to accept India's request to completely eliminate the confidentiality provisions. Also, a majority of countries opine that information should not be made public until a tax case comes up before a court of law. THIS IS WHERE THEY ARE STUCK NOW..!!

Now the NEW tax rule states...: the new tax return form requires information to be provided in relation to various assets held by an individual outside India, including bank accounts in which one is a signatory. However, there are no such provisions applicable to NRIs, those who live and work outside of India and does not have to account to India... BUT NRIs are required to report their income that is sourced, earned within India and outside of India if they spend 180 days there and therefore are liable to be taxed, in India and may have to open their books and Bank accounts to them. That is the NEW LAW. (And even that is a tricky one.)


FH.