At a news conference in London on Monday WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was handed two CDs with details of secret accounts held by tax evaders from several countries, including India, by former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer.
“Assange and WikiLeaks are the best hope we have of getting at who and how much is involved,” said Vineet Narain, one of India’s best known campaigners against the country’s vast “black” or parallel economy, which feeds into the international secret accounts system.
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| WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a CD during a press conference at the Frontline club in London, on Monday. An offshore banking whistleblower on Monday personally handed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange two CDs reportedly containing the names of 2,000 bank clients who may have been evading taxes. AFP |
Narain said two decades of campaigning against the system, that includes obtaining landmark rulings against corruption from the Supreme Court, had taught him that none of the major political parties is serious about a system which enables the elite to spirit away large sums of money and stash them in tax havens.
In a report released in November 2010 the Washington-based Centre for International Policy (CIP) estimated that an average of 19.3 billion dollars leaves India each year. Since independence from British colonial rule in 1947 India has lost 462 billion dollars by a “conservative estimate”, the report said.
Singh is under pressure to act over numerous instances of corruption surfacing in recent months, but he told media on Wednesday that disclosing details of the secret accounts would violate international treaties on double taxation. “The information will not be made public. It will be a violation of the treaties.
“There are no instant solutions to bringing back what is called black money. We have got some information and that has been provided to us for use in the collection of taxes,” Singh added.
Singh’s plea of helplessness has cut no ice with the Supreme Court which is hearing a public interest litigation on large nest eggs, possibly running into trillions of dollars, illegally maintained abroad by Indians.