India's black money in foreign banks - A timeline of events

New Delhi, Oct 27:

- Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte named former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi among 14 politicians, alleging he had some $2.2 billion in a Swiss bank account in his name.

February 2011 - The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) released a booklet, "Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens", which contained allegations against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her late husband Rajiv Gandhi.

June 2011 - Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh questioned the calculation behind estimating black money stashed by Indians abroad ($89.16 billion) but said all possible steps were being taken to bring it back.

June 2011 - Appointment of a high-level committee headed by M.C. Joshi (then Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman) to study the generation and curbing of black money.

November 2011 - India made a commitment to G20 that it will remain an active member of the global battle against black money and will soon sign the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters to curb it by sharing information.

November 2013 - Then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi promised to bring back black money stashed abroad and called for a law on the subject. In campaign rallies, Modi, the BJP prime ministerial candidate, harped on the theme.

February 2014 - Manmohan Singh said his government shared the opposition's views on getting back the black money stashed by some Indians in foreign banks and said it would sit with political parties to seek help and see how the black money problem can be dealt with.

March 2014 - Then Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he had taken up the issue of black money of Indians stashed abroad.

March 2014 - The Congress election manifesto said it will appoint a special envoy on black money.

April 2014 - Government disclosed to the Supreme Court the names of 26 people who had accounts in banks in Liechtenstein -- as revealed to India by German authorities.

April 2014 - The Aam Aadmi Party promised to bring back black money stashed abroad.

April 2014 - The BJP suggests setting up a task force to retrieve black money.

May 2014 - The Narendra Modi government announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, headed by retired justice M.B. Shah.

July 2014 - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed parliament that there is a positive response to requests made by India to Swiss banks.

July 2014 - In its first budget, the government said the problem of black money to be fully addressed.

October 2014 - Jaitley said the government won't hold back any information on black money or names of account holders in tax havens, but the latter will be revealed after "following due procedure".

October 2014 - The NDA government discloses names of businesspeople, Pradeep Burman and Pankaj Lodhiya, as well as Timblo Private Limited and its directors Radha Satish Timblo, Chetan S.Timblo, Rohan S. Timblo, Anna C. Timblo and Malika R. Timblo who are said to hold bank accounts abroad.

IANS