Black money: Leaked data will be considered as stolen cash by Switzerland

New Delhi, Sept 3: India's fight against black money is expected to get a boost with the Swiss Federal Council approving bill that permits sharing of stolen data with other countries.

India's fight against black money had taken a back seat and it could not probe the 600 accounts with suspected black money as the laws in Switzerland did not consider leaked data as stolen.

However with the new bill being approved India can now probe the list of 600 accounts with suspected black money in it.

What has the Swiss Federal Council approved?

The Swiss Federal Council has approved a bill that states that the government can now share stolen data with other countries.

In a statement issued the council said, "the Federal Council initiated the consultation proceedings on the revision of the Tax Administrative Assistance Act, which provides for an easing of Swiss practices with regard to stolen data. Partner countries find Switzerland's current practice too restrictive."

"It is now possible to respond to requests if a foreign country has obtained stolen data through normal administrative assistance channels or public sources," the statement also read.

How India's fight against black money gets a boost?

India has been wanting to probe 600 accounts believed to have black money in it. The list of 600 was part of a list provided by whistle blower, Herve Falciani who was an employee at the HSBC.

He had put out a list of 127,000 accounts believed to contain illicit money and handed it over to the French government. India had in turn sourced this list through the French government.

The new bill will help enable the Automatic Exchange of Information between India and Switzerland. More importantly this bill will also enable the Switzerland government to consider leaked data as stolen which will only help India's cause.

India had sought to probe the accounts on the basis of the leak. However with leaked data not being considered as stolen money or illicit cash, the investigations by India had taken a back seat.

OneIndia News