HSBC black money list: Why taxmen are still groping in the dark

Is the income tax department’s hunt for money stashed away in HSBC Geneva by 600 Indians ending up as a wild goose chase?

According to a report in The Economic Times, the tax department is dead serious about getting hold of the individuals involved but has no clue as to how to go about it.

The case pertains to a list of 600 Indians whose details were stolen by an employee of HSBC in 2008 and handed over to the French government, which decided to share them with India. The Indian authorities are, however, hesitating to make public the names in the list.

In order to get hold of the tax evaders, the tax department needs to get the documents from HSBC, not just a list and some vague information from some foreign sources, says the ET report.

“The department is thinking of ways to obtain it (documents from HSBC),” a department official has been quoted as saying in the report.

One way is to get a confirmation from the bank that it has sent the documents to account holders. “Once the department gets such a confirmation, it can direct individuals to hand over the documents,” the tax official has told the newspaper.

Interestingly, he has even said that some of the HSBC clients had received some boxes from Switzerland, but have not yet confirmed it to the tax authorities, let alone share the documents.

The clients, on the other hand, are banking on a French court order which said stolen data should not be shared with other governments. The court in 2011 had ruled that stolen data is unlawful and denied permission to conduct raids based on them.

If Switzerland takes congnisance of this order, Indian tax evaders will also get a straw to hold one.

To make it easy for them, according to the ET report, a strong lobby in Switzerland is arguing against sharing stolen data with other countries.

What is more confusing is the papers some of the clients have received from Switzerland is not from HSBC. In short, HSBC is playing it safe.

And now, the I-T department is in a piquant situation. It knows that the tax evaders have received the papers but it cannot raid their premises to seize them, because nobody has confirmed that the boxes these individuals received are indeed their account-related papers.

All in all, the mess continues to be the mess it was years back. Nobody is actually interested in getting the high and mighty booked. Had they been, they would have made public the names in the list. As long as that is kept a secret, do not expect any action to take place on this front.

Meanwhile, the money in these accounts would gradually be disappearing into thin air.