Embassy refutes speculative estimates of Indians’ wealth stashed in Switzerland

Reacting sharply to the recent statement by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director A P Singh that Indians had stashed huge sums of money in Swiss banks, the Switzerland embassy in Delhi said such speculative estimates lacked evidence.

''There have been several speculations about the amount of wealth held by Indians in Swiss banks,'' said the embassy. ''Such estimates and statistics lack evidence and are uncorroborated.''

While the statement did not specifically refer to the CBI director's comments, it follows days after Singh told a meeting of the Interpol's global programme on anti-corruption and asset recovery in Delhi on Monday that about $500 billion of illegal money had been stashed abroad by Indians in tax havens. He claimed that Indians accounted for the largest number of depositors in Swiss banks (See: Indians hold over $500 billion in secret bank accounts overseas: CBI).

On Thursday, V. Narayanasamy, minister of state for personnel, claimed that Singh had made the statement on the basis of a report prepared by a supreme court-appointed committee on black money.

The Swiss embassy said it was clarifying ''unsubstantiated media reports'' about Switzerland and banks in the country. Earlier, Narayanasamy had also accused unnamed foreign governments of not cooperating with India in getting black money from abroad.

Again without referring to him, the embassy noted: ''The Swiss government has been forthcoming in its cooperation with all foreign governments in cases of tax evasion as well as cases of tax fraud, that have been presented within the framework of bilateral treaties.''