[Assam] Black Money Acct Holder Names Cannot be Made Public

Wed Jan 19 08:04:27 PST 2011

I don't get it Ram.

Why doesn't MMS or India want to know who its black-money kings are? 

On Jan 19, 2011, at 9:55 AM, Ram Sarangapani wrote:

> This article from Bloomberg might help.
> 
> There is a slight problem for MM Singh. While most foreign governments (like
> the US, Germany etc) are fighting the Swiss banks to release bank/account
> data, MM Singh is fighting India and cooperating with the Swiss.
> 
> --Ram
> 
> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akmcfUr7TqHs
> 
> Swiss Banks Achilles Heel Is Workers Selling Data (Update1)
> By Warren Giles - Feb 02, 2010
> 
> Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss banks are discovering that the biggest threat to
> client privacy is their own workers.
> 
> German Chancellor Angela
> Merkel<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Angela+Merkel&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said
> yesterday her government may buy stolen data on Swiss bank accounts as
> French authorities comb information acquired from an employee of HSBC
> Holdings Plc’s<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?T=en10/quote.wm&ticker=HSBN%3ALN>private
> bank in Geneva. The cases come two years after Germany paid 5
> million euros ($7 million) for details filched from LGT Group in neighboring
> Liechtenstein.
> 
> “This is a kind of business war against Switzerland in which practices which
> were completely illegal have become acceptable,” says Daniel Fischer,
> founder of Zurich-based Fischer & Partner law firm who specializes in
> banking law and fraud. “It’s a huge danger for Swiss banks.”
> 
> The willingness of governments to pay for stolen data is fanning tensions
> with France and Germany as Switzerland seeks to negotiate treaties
> implementing its commitment to cooperate with international tax probes. The
> Swiss government said last month it will draft a law barring officials from
> assisting foreign countries in cases involving theft of client details.
> 
> Germany’s use of such data would be “counterproductive” in future
> negotiations, and the German government shouldn’t be handling stolen goods,
> the Swiss Bankers Association said in a Jan. 30 statement. The association
> represents more than 300 banks, including UBS
> AG<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?T=en10/quote.wm&ticker=UBSN%3AVX>and
> Credit
> Suisse Group AG<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?T=en10/quote.wm&ticker=CSGN%3AVX>.
> 
> 
> Incentive to Steal
> 
> “What’s new recently is the price paid by states for lists, which makes it
> more attractive” for employees to steal, Anne-Marie de
> Weck<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Anne-Marie+de+Weck&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
> managing partner at Geneva-based private bank Lombard Odier, told reporters
> last month in Bern. In bank security, “the most important factor is human,”
> she said.
> 
> An unidentified individual has offered to sell Germany information on about
> 1,300 holders of Swiss bank accounts for 2.5 million euros, the Financial
> Times Deutschland reported yesterday, without saying where it got the
> information.
> 
> FTD said the data came from HSBC’s private bank in Geneva, while the German
> newspaper Handelsblatt reported it was drawn primarily from accounts at UBS
> and may yield 200 million euros in lost taxes. Frankfurter Allgemeine
> Zeitung today said the information came from Credit Suisse, without
> providing the source of the report.
> 
> UBS isn’t aware of such information, spokesman Christoph
> Meier<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Christoph%0AMeier&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said
> when asked about the Handlesblatt report. A spokesman for HSBC in
> Geneva declined to comment, and Credit Suisse issued a statement saying it
> had “no information” that the bank was affected.
> 
> “We should aim to get hold of this data if it’s relevant,” because Germany
> needs to crack down on tax violators, Merkel told reporters yesterday in
> Berlin.
> 
> Liechtenstein Precedent
> 
> Germany last year prosecuted tax evaders, including former Deutsche Post AG
> Chief Executive Officer Klaus
> Zumwinkel<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Klaus+Zumwinkel&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
> using the information bought from a former computer consultant at LGT, owned
> by Liechtenstein’s princely family. Zumwinkel received a two-year suspended
> sentence and was ordered to pay a 1 million- euro penalty after a Germany
> court ruled that he had “knowingly” evaded taxes.
> 
> Tax authorities have increasingly been offered secret bank information since
> the Liechtenstein case, German Finance Ministry spokesman Michael
> Offer<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Michael+Offer&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said
> yesterday.
> 
> “I have a hard time imagining that we are living in a world where a
> government, which is supposed to set an example, can take for granted that
> stolen data will be the basis for action,” Patrick
> Odier<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Patrick+Odier&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
> chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association, said in a Jan. 29 interview at
> the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “It is a real issue and we
> have to make sure it doesn’t develop into more cases.”
> 
> HSBC Agreement
> 
> The French Finance Ministry said in December that it had data on Swiss bank
> accounts held by French taxpayers, including names provided by a
> former HSBC<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?T=en10/quote.wm&ticker=HSBA%3ALN>employee.
> 
> Switzerland suspended treaty negotiations with France in December because of
> the HSBC case. After talks last week, France agreed to return the original
> data to Switzerland and not ask for assistance from Swiss authorities based
> on the stolen information. France will continue to use the data to pursue
> tax evaders at home.
> 
> “The agreement won’t change anything for a client of HSBC whose data was
> stolen,” said Fischer, the Zurich lawyer, who added that details of the
> accord aren’t clear. “An agreement may, on the face of it, be good for
> Switzerland but not for Swiss banking clients.”
> 
> Swiss secrecy laws, which threaten bank employees with as much as five years
> in jail if they divulge client information, have failed to stop staff from
> stealing data.
> 
> ‘Gray Zone’
> 
> Switzerland’s argument that foreign governments should abide by established
> codes of conduct that bar the use of stolen information may also fall short,
> said Thomas Cottier, a professor of European and international economic law
> at the University of Bern.
> 
> “We are entering a gray zone of intelligence and the principles are not as
> strict as in penal law, where information unlawfully obtained is not
> admissible,” said Cottier. “The risk is that foreign governments won’t say
> where they got the information from, leading to less rather than more
> transparency.”
> 
> Banking secrecy has been the focus of international attention for the past
> two years as the U.S., France and Germany target tax evaders to help close
> widening budget
> deficits<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?T=en10/quote.wm&ticker=FDEBTY%3AIND>after
> the worst economic crisis since World War II.
> 
> Switzerland agreed in March to cooperate with countries investigating tax
> evasion in order to avoid being placed on a list of uncooperative tax
> havens. The Swiss government in August said it would give data on as many as
> 4,450 UBS accounts to the Internal Revenue Service after the country’s
> biggest bank admitted that it helped clients avoid U.S. taxes.
> 
> UBS Whistleblower
> 
> The case hinged on information provided by Bradley
> Birkenfeld<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Bradley%0ABirkenfeld&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
> a former UBS banker who told U.S. authorities how the bank courted wealthy
> Americans without a license from U.S. regulators and helped them set up
> accounts to evade taxes.
> 
> Mirabaud & Cie., one of Geneva’s oldest private banks, says the risk from
> employees isn’t new.
> 
> “The human factor is obviously a risk, and we’re always evolving as it’s a
> continuing concern,” Yves
> Mirabaud<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Yves+Mirabaud&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
> partner at the 191-year-old bank, said in an interview.
> 
> “We only put people that we’ve known for many years in the most sensitive
> positions,” Mirabaud said. “We try to avoid the basics such as leaving
> people alone in a room for hours where they can have access to sensitive
> data.”
> 
> Still, the latest developments are “worrying,” he said.
> 
> “It’s like Big Brother. Do the state and your neighbor have the right to
> know everything about you?”
> 
> To contact the reporter on this story: Warren
> Giles<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Warren+Giles&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=en10_wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
> Geneva at
> wgiles at bloomberg.net.
> 
> To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at
> fconnelly at bloomberg.net.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 9:30 AM, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Black Money Acct Holder Names Cannot be Made Public, so sayeth the
>> personally honest PM.
>> 
>> 
>> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Black-money-info-cant-be-made-public-PM/articleshow/7320434.cms
>> 
>> 
>> Funny nobody asked WHAT those treaty obligations might be and how they
>> prevent the state from releasing those names
>> that could very likely be involved with corruption? Like ex-or sitting
>> ministers, MPs, high public officials, bureaucrats,
>> private citizens working for or with the state, like contractors and so
>> forth?
>> 
>> 
>> 
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