Government serves notices on 17 Indians for money in tax havens

The government has served notices to 17 Indians suspected of having black money stashed away in tax havens abroad, but will not reveal their names as yet, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday.

''We have received a few names. We have already served notices on 17 persons and prosecution has begun,'' Mukherjee told reporters.

''But the government suo motu can't reveal the names. According to the treaties we have signed with other governments, we can only use the information for taxation purposes.'' He said the names would be revealed in court when the matter comes up for prosecution.

Mukherjee had also said the government had submitted the names of some suspected offenders in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court, which asked the executive to be more serious on black money as it constituted a plunder of the nation's wealth.

Mukherjee's reaction came a day after some media reports revealed names of 15 Indian entities, including individuals and trusts, said to have kept illicit money in LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, a known tax haven 190 km from Munich in Germany.

These names are part of the list of 1,400 clients, which was stolen from the database of the LGT Group and passed on to German tax authorities in 2008. Germany had handed over the list to the Indian government on March 18, 2009.