Black money: Swiss government agrees to share details of two Indian firms
NEW DELHI/BERNE, Dec 02: As Switzerland continues to shed its image as a safe haven for alleged black money, the Alpine nation has agreed to share with Indian authorities the details of two companies and three individuals who are facing multiple probes in India.
One of the two Indian companies used to be a publicly-listed entity and has already faced the wrath of capital markets regulator Sebi for multiple violations, while the other firm is said to have political links in Tamil Nadu.
As per separate gazette notifications of the Swiss government, the country's federal tax department has agreed to provide 'administrative assistance' to India on requests made about Geodesic Ltd and Aadhi Enterprises Private Ltd.
Similar requests have also been accepted for three individuals associated with Geodesic Ltd — Pankajkumar Onkar Srivastava, Prashant Sharad Mulekar and Kiran Kulkarni.
While the Swiss government did not disclose specific details related to the information and assistance sought by the Indian authorities regarding the two companies and the three individuals, such an 'administrative assistance' follows submission of proof about financial and tax-related wrongdoings and typically involves sharing of information relating to bank account details and other financial data.
The companies and the individuals concerned can file an appeal against the decision of Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration (FTA) to provide administrative assistance to India.
Repeated attempts to contact the two companies and the three individuals for their comments failed to yield any result. In the past, they have denied any wrongdoing. The
1982-incorporated Geodesic, once known as a fast-growing company with cutting-edge technology solutions, does not have a functional website anymore and is also no longer a listed entity as trading in its shares has been suspended by the stock exchanges for "procedural reasons".
The company and its directors have faced regulatory action by Sebi as well as other authorities like the Enforcement Directorate and the Economic Offence Wing of the Mumbai Police.
As per latest details available about the company on the stock exchanges, Pankajkumar was listed as Geodesic's chairman, Kiran Kulkarni as managing director and Prashant Mulekar as executive director.
In case of Aadhi Enterprises Pvt Ltd, which was incorporated in Chennai in November 2014, the company is said to have seen a rapid growth in real estate and other businesses, but soon landed in trouble due to alleged links to tainted politicians and for allegedly indulging in money laundering.
According to reports, the Income Tax Department has conducted multiple raids on properties of the company's promoters.
While Switzerland has always denied being a safe haven for black money, it has traditionally been known for its strong banking secrecy laws that had to be eased following a strong global crackdown on illicit funds being stashed in such jurisdictions.
The Alpine nation has been sharing details for many years with several countries including India after submission of evidence about financial and tax-related wrongdoings of the clients of Swiss banks.
Besides, a new framework of automatic information exchange has been now put in place and the details can be accessed under the new system from next year.
Courtesy: timesofindia
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
We received request; will decide soon whether to support TVK: Thirumavalavan
Chennai (PTI): VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan on Thursday said that his party received a request from TVK for support and the high-level committee of his party will decide whether to support the Vijay-led party to form the government.
The TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly and emerged as the single largest party. Vijay will have to resign from one of the two constituencies he has won.
Though the Congress party, which has five MLAs, has extended support to TVK, the actor-politician-led party was still short of as many seats to touch the magic number of 118, the majority mark in the 234-member House.
"We received the request letter from TVK. We are thankful for that. We have not ignored his (Vijay's) request. We have a procedure. Therefore, our party's high-level committee will decide soon. We are going to discuss the merits and demerits of our position," the VCK leader told reporters here.
With regard to the delay in the governor's call to the TVK, which is the single largest party, to form the government, Thirumavalavan requested the governor to invite Vijay to form the government. "It is a constitutional right and people's verdict," he added.
Asserting that the governor cannot say that Vijay should hold 118 MLAs' support now itself to form the government, he said that after taking over power, Vijay has to prove an absolute majority only on the floor of the Assembly.
