L A T E S T      N E W S

Black money probe in progress, says govt

NEW DELHI: A day after Arvind Kejriwal accused it of inaction over black money allegedly stashed away in HSBC Bank in Geneva, the government on Saturday said investigations are in progress with tax authorities to obtain more information regarding the reported account holders. 

Without naming either the bank or the account holders involved, the government came out with a statement saying that appropriate action has been taken on these cases based on information received last year from the French government. 

“And further including assessment, tax collection and levy of penalty will be taken as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and based on the facts of the each case”, said a statement issued on behalf of the Department of Revenue of the Finance Ministry. 

The statement comes in the wake of allegations levelled by India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Kejriwal and lawyer Prashant Bhushan that government has taken no action on the information provided purportedly on 700 account holders in HSBC Geneva by the French government. 

They had also named top industrialists and a politician as having parked their money to the tune of Rs 6000 crore in the bank. 

The official statement merely said that information was received in June last year by the government from its counterpart in France relating to certain bank accounts reportedly held by certain individuals and non-individuals in a foreign bank. 

Reference to this matter was made by the then Finance Minister during the course of the debate on adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on December 14. Subsequently, answers to question on this matter were furnished in the Rajya Sabha on August 23 this year. — PTI

BJP executive member says Gadkari must quit

NEW DELHI: BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday faced a fresh attack with party national executive member Jagadish Shettigar, demanding that he should step down from the top post in the wake of charges of dubious funding of his Purti Group. 

“Gadkari is also a swayamsewak (RSS worker) whose dharma (principle) is to protect the interest of the country first and then protect the interest of the organisation. So I am sure being a Swayamsewak, as per the conscience, he will take the best step in the overall interest of the country and the organisation,” Shettigar said. 

He maintained that timely action on Gadkari’s part is crucial. The leader maintained that public perception is important and Gadkari should step down till the process of investigations is completed. 

Shettigar cited the example of BJP leader L.K.Advani who had stepped down when allegations were levelled against him in the Hawala case. He had also announced that he will not contest any elections. 

He refused to speak on the clean chit given to Gadkari by RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy, saying he had not studied his report. However, he said there should be an internal mechanism to identify whether a person is involved in corruption. 

“If what has been reported is correct, then I think it is not as per what you call the norms of SEBI or other institutions,” Shettigar said. 

Before Shettigar, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani and his son Mahesh had said Gadkari should immediately step down from his post as the charges against him were damaging the party. He claimed to have the support of other party leaders like Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha. — PTI

Citigroup to pay Vikram Pandit, John Havens $15.5 million each

NEW YORK: Citigroup said it will pay $15.5 million to Vikram Pandit, its former chief executive who resigned from company last month, as well as to his top deputy.

The bank said on Friday the payments to Pandit and former Chief Operating Officer John Havens reflect the progress the bank made in 2012 and work they did in some earlier years.

The statement came less than a month after board members led by Chairman Michael O'Neill told Pandit privately that his work was not satisfactory, sources said at the time.

Michael Corbat, head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa for Citigroup, was named the new chief executive.

The payments are the final chapter in the reign of Pandit, who was named chief executive just as the financial crisis started and shepherded the bank through three government rescues and a series of subsequent miscues.

O'Neill lost confidence in Pandit after missteps that included the bank's failure to win regulatory approval to return capital to shareholders this year, sources had said.

Payments to departing officers are a thorny matter for corporate boards because investors question the benefit the company gets from handing money over to executives that no longer work there.

Citigroup said it was paying the men what it had to. "While Citi will also honor all past awards that they are legally entitled to, there are no severance payments. Awards to which they are not legally entitled have been forfeited," O'Neill said in the statement from the company.

Before and during the financial crisis, outgoing executives often received much more money. In 2007, for example, Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Stan O'Neal left his company with a severance package of $161.5 million.

Pandit initially agreed to take one dollar a year for being CEO. At the time the company was struggling to pay back government bailout money. Pandit and Havens had previously sold their hedge fund to Citigroup in a deal that ultimately paid each man $79.7 million.

The company later adopted a new compensation plan and Pandit was paid $14.8 million in 2011. The pay plan raised the ire of investors and was denounced by a majority vote of shareholders in a referendum at Citigroup's annual meeting in April.

The pay plan did not closely link executive compensation to performance, critics said.

US median household income was $50,054 in 2011.

The plan was also criticized for granting large retention awards to keep executives from leaving.

At that same meeting, O'Neill became chairman of the board, marking the beginning of the end for Pandit's career at Citigroup.

Citigroup directors, after losing the advisory vote on pay, vowed to meet with shareholders. The company is expected to unveil a new executive compensation plan before the next annual meeting.

In the meantime, Pandit and Havens by leaving are forfeiting some of their retention awards, according to the statement from the company. For Pandit, that means leaving behind $24.2 million and for Havens $18.9 million, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be identified.

The final pay agreements were signed on Friday and set Nov. 30 as the official termination dates for the two men, according to the bank's statement in a regulatory filing. — Reuters

CIA chief resigns over love affair

Washington: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director David Petraeus on Friday resigned over an extramarital affair, saying his behaviour was "unacceptable".

The top intelligence official of the US submitted his resignation to US President Barack Obama during a meeting at the White House.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgement by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours," he said in a statement, according to CNN.

Obama accepted his resignation and praised Petraeus on his extraordinary service. "I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission, and I have the utmost confidence in Acting Director Michael Morell and the men and women of the CIA who work every day to keep our nation safe," he said.

"David Petraeus has provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades. By any measure, he was one of the outstanding General officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end," he said.

Obama's 3-nation Asia trip by Nov-end

Washington: The three-nation Asia trip by the US President Barack Obama is part of his effort to refocus in the most "rapidly growing and dynamic" region of the world, the White House has said.

"The President's trip to Asia will be an opportunity to build on our successful efforts to refocus on the Asia Pacific as the most rapidly growing and dynamic region in the world," the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at a news conference yesterday.

Later this month, Obama would travel to Thailand, Cambodia and Burma. Simultaneously, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Defence Secretary Leon Panetta would also be in the region; which is reflective of the importance being attached to the Asia Pacific region by the Obama Administration.

"And as he (Obama) did last year, the President will focus on expanding US trade and economic ties in the region, supporting democracy and human rights, and working through regional institutions to ensure that nations abide by the rules of the road," he said.

"Now, you know, as part of his broader agenda, the President has focused on expanding our presence in Asia. The positive economic impact of doing that will be felt for years to come and is elemental to the kind of economic growth that this President foresees for the American economy in the 21st century. So this is important work that needs to be done," Carney said.