Govt to tighten noose on corrupt officials

Corrupt public officials beware! Government officials found taking bribes might have to face 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, while big spenders would have to voluntarily report high-value transactions; as per the recommendations of a panel on black money.

As per a newspaper report, the measures are part of the Black Money Committee Report. The Committee, constituted to examine ways to strengthen laws to curb the generation of black money in the country, its illegal transfer abroad and its recovery submitted its report on January 31.

The Centre has issued new guidelines to seize properties or money of government officials involved in corrupt practices even after their retirement. Moreover the government may buy out the property if it finds that the deal is undervalued and aimed at avoiding tax.

The Hindustan Times further reports that if someone is buying bullion or jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh, it has to be brought to the notice of the tax authorities.

Government in its bid to crack down on black money has also planned to make it mandatory for all overseas transactions to be reported to the income tax department.

SC blames Yoga Guru Ramdev, cops for Ramlila crackdown

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Today held Baba Ramdev and Delhi Police guilty of negligence in a case related to midnight crackdown on yoga guru’s followers at the Ramlila Maidan on June 4-5 last year during his anti-corruption agitation.

The apex court, while stressing that the authorities could have avoided the violent incident, said that both Baba Ramdev and the police acted in an irresponsible manner.

“There was abuse of power by the Delhi Police and there was violation of fundamental rights of people,” the apex court bench of justices BS Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar said.

“The incident shows might of the state which strikes at the foundation of democracy. It is a glaring example of trust deficit between people governing and people being governed,” it said.

The Supreme Court also ordered the state authorities to file criminal cases against those responsible for the crackdown on hundreds of innocent supporters.

The court also directed the authorities to give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family members of Rajbala, the woman who died due to the injury suffered in the police crackdown.

Besides, the court also ordered a compensation of Rs 50,000 for those who sustained serious injuries and Rs 35,000 for those with minor injuries during the incident.

Importantly, the apex court asked the yoga guru to share 25% of the total compensation to be given to the victims.

The apex court had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports purportedly showing brutality of police action against the sleeping followers of Ramdev, including women and children.

Ramdev had alleged the police action was carried out on the instructions of their political masters and demanded action against all people who had directed the mid-night crackdown.

Ramdev was agitating along with his followers against corruption and demanding that the UPA government must make sincere efforts to bring back black money illegally parked in secret foreign bank accounts by tax evaders.

Delhi Police, however, claimed Ramdev had instigated his followers to indulge in violence, forcing the police to act at that time of the night.

CBI: Indians have stashed over $500 bn in banks abroad

Indians are the largest depositors in banks abroad with an estimated 500 billion US dollars (nearly Rs 24.5 lakh crore) of illegal money stashed by them in tax havens, the CBI Director said.

India, in particular, has suffered from the flow of illegal funds to tax havens such as Mauritius, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, British Virgin islands etc.

"It is estimated that around 500 billion dollars of illegal money belonging to Indians is deposited in tax havens abroad. Largest depositors in Swiss Banks are also reported to be Indians," CBI Director A P Singh said speaking at the inauguration of first interpol global programme on anti-corruption and asset recovery.

He said getting information about such illegal transactions is a time taking process as investigators have to peel each layer by sending judicial requests to the country where such deposits have been made.

"53 percent of the countries said to be least corrupt by the Transparency International Index are offshore tax havens, where most of the corrupt money goes. The tax havens include New Zealand which is ranked as the least corrupt country, Singapore ranked number five and Switzerland number seven," Singh said.

He said there is a lack of political will in the leading tax haven states to part with the information because they are aware of the extent to which their economies have become "geared to this flow of illegal capitals from the poorer countries."
The CBI Director said tracing, freezing, confiscation and repatriation of stolen assets is a legal challenge, a complex process which requires expertise and political will.

"Managing the asset recovery investigation is complex, time consuming, costly and most importantly requires expertise and political will. There are many obstacles to asset recovery. Not only is it a specialised legal process filled with delays and uncertainty, but there are also language barriers and a lack of trust when working with other countries," Singh said.

He said global financial markets allow money to travel faster and further making tracking the money trail in such cases even more difficult which necessitates the organisation of such global training programs as they enhance the knowledge of investigators in tracking assets created out of corrupt and criminal acts.

Singh said criminals are using the territorial issues of investigating agencies to their advantage by spreading their crimes to at least two countries and investing in a third.

He said the World Bank estimates the cross border flow of money from criminal activities and tax evasion is around 1 trillion US dollars of which 40 billion US dollars is bribe paid to government servants in developing countries.

Singh quoted the report to say that only five billion US dollars of this money has been repatriated during 15 years.

Advani demanded to Govt: Explain inaction on black money

 Senior BJP leader LK Advani, who moved an adjournment motion on black money issue in the Lok Sabha on today, said that the government should elucidate the steps being taken to bring back money stashed illegally in foreign accounts.

Starting the debate, Advani demanded the government should ensure that black money stashed abroad should be brought back and also explain what action is being taken against those who have opened such accounts.

“Why is the government not proactive on black money? Why has the government delayed action on black money? We demand that the government present a white paper on the issue,” he said.

Referring to certain estimates, Advani said that Rs 25 lakh crore of Indian black money is stashed in Swiss banks while pointing out that high tax is leading to generation of black money.

The former deputy prime minister cornered the government over reports about France having given names of 600-700 Indian nationals who have illegal accounts and demanded that the government reveal the names and act upon the guilty.

“Don’t protect anyone who is on the list and I demand that the government reveal the complete list today itself,” he said.

“If the government doesn’t tell us the names, then it may so happen that Julian Assange may reveal it through WikiLeaks. It is humiliating if we were to know the details from WikiLeaks,” he added.

He also sought to draw the House’s attention towards various stringent observations made by the Supreme Court including the one in which it termed India as a ‘soft state’ for its inability to act against black money hoarders.

The BJP has been pressing for the motion since the Winter Session of Parliament began over two weeks ago in the backdrop of LK Advani's yatra against black money and corruption.

BJP MPs have also given declarations to the presiding officers of two Houses saying they do not have any illegal money stashed abroad.

Importantly, the motion will be without the sense of government censure and that voting is likely on a neutral motion.