The Finance Ministry has declined to share Swiss bank accounts details of Indians saying it is covered under ‘confidentiality provisions’ of a tax treaty signed between India and Switzerland. In reply to an RTI query, the ministry also refused to disclose the details of black money received from other foreign countries.
“Information exchanged under such tax agreements is covered under confidentiality provisions of respective agreements. Thus, disclosure of tax-related information and information sought/obtained from foreign governments is exempted under section 8 (1) (a) and 8 (1) (f) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act,” according to media reported.
The ministry was asked to provide the details of the information received from Switzerland related to accounts of Indians in banks there. It was also asked to provide the detail information received from foreign countries on black money, including details of such cases shared with India. In September, India has got the first set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals under a new automatic information exchange pact.
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