New Delhi, August 24: India today told Swiss banks that it was not interested in fishing expedition of details of money stashed with them but will work on specific cases.
“They (Swiss Bankers Association) have not refused (to divulge information). They have suggested they are not for fishing and we are also not interested in fishing their whole list (of bank accounts),” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters late tonight.
His comments come a day after Swiss banks said India was not welcome on a name-fishing expedition.
Mukherjee said, “We will also work on specific information and we will also like to follow the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development pattern.”
Mukhejree said India is currently engaged in negotiations on double taxation avoidance treaties with a large number of countries, including Switzerland.
Earlier in the day he said he had read in newspapers about SBA’s statement and that he would look into it.
SBA’s Head of International Communications James Nason had told, “Swiss law and even OECD’s Model Tax Convention do not permit fishing expeditions, in other words, the indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting.
“This means that India cannot simply throw its telephone book at Switzerland and ask if any of these people have a bank account here.
—Agencies