New Delhi, June 22
The black money debate in India has taken a new turn with Switzerland reportedly having prepared a list of Indians suspected to have stashed unaccounted wealth in Swiss banks and the details are being shared with the Indian government.

A PTI report from Zurich quoting a senior Swiss government official said the names of these Indian individuals and entities have come under the scanner of the Swiss authorities during an ongoing exercise to identify real beneficiary owners of funds held in various banks operating in Switzerland.

"These individuals and entities are suspected to have held un-taxed money in Swiss banks through structures like trusts, domiciliary companies and other legal entities based out of countries other than India," the official told PTI.

The official refused to divulge the identity of these persons and entities as also the quantum of funds held by them in Swiss banks, citing confidentiality clause of the bilateral information exchange treaty between two countries. The official further said Swiss authorities were very keen to work with the new government in India and they would also provide all necessary support to the newly set up Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

He, however, dismissed claims that black money stashed in Swiss banks by Indians could be trillions of dollars, as the latest Swiss National Bank data pegs the total foreign client money across 283 banks in Switzerland at $ 1.6 trillion.

The development comes at a time when the official data published by Switzerland's central bank, SNB, has shown that Indian money in various Swiss banks rose by 43 per cent during 2013 to close to Rs 14,000 crore.

The last official exchange from between the Indian and Swiss governments on the issue of black money was during the last couple of months of the outgoing UPA government when the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram had written two letters.

Chidambaram wrote two letters to his Swiss counterpart in March and May protesting that Switzerland was not cooperating with the Indian government to disclose bank accounts.

• Swiss government official refused to divulge the identity of these persons and entities as also the quantum of funds held by them in Swiss banks.
• He cited confidentiality clause of the information exchange treaty between two countries.
• He said Swiss authorities were very keen to work with the new government in India
• They would provide all necessary support to the newly set up SIT on black money.

• Justice M B Shah, who is heading the SIT on black money in India, said the list would be verified and action would be taken against those found to have kept unaccountable money.