Get India's Stolen Money Back

The Guardian, January 26, 2010 Large companies should reveal how much of their profits they pay in tax to developing nations to show they comply with local corporation tax regimes, Stephen Timms, the Treasury minister, will say tomorrow as part of a three-pronged effort to boost tax revenues in poor countries. Developing nations must also be given access to secret tax agreements between western governments and other poor nations together with expensive technical support to help them rein in tax-dodging companies, he will tell the first meeting of a high-level tax committee at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris-based club for the world's 16 richest nations. Timms wants the OECD to adopt the measures as part of a wider crackdown on tax avoidance by corporations. "The agenda reflects the concern that developing countries also need to benefit from the new co-operative tax environment the OECD is working towards," he said. The government esti...

Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2010 ZURICH--UBS AG Tuesday issued an employee code explicitly banning staff from helping clients cheat on their taxes, as part of the Swiss bank's effort to restore its reputation after a messy U.S. probe into hidden offshore accounts. "We do not provide assistance to clients or colleagues in acts aimed at deceiving tax authorities," according to the code, which is prefaced with remarks from UBS Chairman Kaspar Villiger and Chief Executive Oswald Grübel. The code, which also addresses issues such as financial crime, competition, confidentiality and diversity, is meant as a response to wrongdoing in UBS's U.S. offshore arm, which has since been shuttered. OSWALD GRÜBEL The eight-page code also lays out potential sanctions against employees who violate it, including warnings, demotion or dismissal. "In the new UBS, we will uncompromisingly treat our reputation as our most valuable asset and we will protect it fiercely," Me...

Tax Analysts, January 19, 2010 Swiss banks have suffered a large outflow of assets as a result of the ongoing Italian tax amnesty. Switzerland's three largest wealth management banks, UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG, and Julius Baer Group, may have lost as much as CHF 18 billion (about $17.7 billion) to the ongoing Italian tax amnesty, according to media reports. The Italian amnesty, which allows taxpayers to declare offshore assets and pay a one-time fine, was originally scheduled to end on December 15, 2009, but has been extended to April 30, 2010. (For prior coverage, see Doc 2009-27696  or 2009 WTD 241-5 .) The fine for those who came clean by December 15, 2009, was 5 percent of the total assets. The fine increases to 6 percent for those who report by February 28, 2010, and will rise to 7 percent for those who report by April 30. Also, Italian taxpayers had to remove their assets from Swiss banks and return them to Italy to qualify for the amnesty as long as Switzerland rem...

New York Times, January 18, 2010 From his home in the quiet village of Rorbas, outside Zurich, Rudolf M. Elmer is chipping away at the centuries-old traditions of Swiss banking secrecy. Enlarge This Image Rudolf M. Elmer ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002. Mr. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, moved to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and began parceling out to global tax authorities what he said were the secrets of his former employer. Now back in his native country, he continues to disclose the inner workings of Julius Baer - one of many Swiss institutions that investigators say help clients evade billions of dollars in taxes by routing money through offshore havens in the Caribbean and Switzerland. "It is a global problem, and I am only the messenger who provides the bad news, or even better, the truth," Mr. Elmer, 54...

Dear all  Something very interesting and important is taking place—Human rights organizations and Financial Integrity/Transparency organizations are joining hands-- on a Global Scale-- to pris open Tax Havens and lift the veil of financial secrecy. Is India aware of it and listening? Financial Integrity Meets Human Rights http://www.gfip.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=287 Professor R. Vaidyananthan

Court issues notice to Centre on PIL No single person whose name is given by Germany was proceeded against No vigorous steps being taken in Hasan Ali Khan case New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on the petition, filed by the former Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and others, seeking vital documents on black money stashed away in foreign banks. A Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan issued notice after hearing senior counsel Anil Divan, who said the Centre was withholding vital documents. Inaction The public interest litigation petition alleged inaction on the part of the Centre in bringing back black money from foreign banks. The petitioners had sought 21 documents and letters, including the Indian government’s communication with German authorities, UBS AG Switzerland and LGT Bank, Liechtenstein, a tax haven. They had also sought certain documents on the case registered against Pune-based busin...

Faced with the daunting task of unearthing black money allegedly stashed abroad, the Centre on Tuesday said it would pursue amendment to the double taxation avoidance treaty (DTAT) with Switzerland to incorporate disclosure clause to force Swiss banks to share information about account holders suspected of parking illegal money. Solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam informed a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan that the Centre was also seriously considering invoking the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case of Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan to force foreign entities to share vital information with ED. When Subramaniam submitted to the court the status report of ED's probe into Khan's case in a sealed cover, petitioner Ram Jethmalani's counsel Anil Divan objected to it, saying why could the Centre not make public the investigation into a case which would be in national interest. Jethmalani, in his public interest litigatio...

NEW DELHI: The Bofors case that led to Congress's defeat in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls has been given an official burial, with the government formally declaring its intention to drop proceedings against the key accused, Ottavio Quattrocchi. The decision to lay off Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman accused of taking bribes from a Swedish gun manufacturer to facilitate the sale of the Bofors howitzers to India in 1986, was announced in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. "The Red Corner Notice against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi was withdrawn a year ago. There is not a rubble of evidence in the case to keep it prolonging in the trial court. We have decided to withdraw all prosecution and close the case," solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam informed SC. "The CBI pursued the case because of the pendency of the Red Corner Notice, which was withdrawn on November 25, 2008. We will pursue the case if any new evidence comes to light. But for the present, there is no...

NEW DELHI - A lawyer, who has been pursuing a case involving Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Supreme Court, Thursday moved an application in a city court seeking rejection of any closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Bofors case. Advocate Ajay Agarwal, in his application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja, said that any closure report by CBI should be rejected. Agarwal had moved the apex court in January 2006 against the defreezing of Quattrocchi’s bank account in London. His latest application came after the central government Tuesday informed the apex court that it has decided to close the case against Quattrocchi.   “Despite the evidence against Quattrocchi, CBI declared its intention to withdraw the case against him, which is unfair,” Agarwal said in his application in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court. The case is scheduled to come for hearing before the city court on Oct 3. Solicitor General ...

The CBI will withdraw on Saturday cases pending before a Delhi court against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi relating to the Bofors gun deal, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily stated on Thursday, setting the stage for legal burial of over two-decade old lawsuits against him. "The Government has taken a decision for withdrawal of the cases and the Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the CBI, will move an application before a magistrate's court in Delhi on October 3," M Veerappa Moily said. The minister said there was no point in pursuing the matter which had "damaged the lives of so many people. Still you want to hunt the shadow," he said adding "we cannot keep it going just for the false prestige of the Government or just to oblige the Opposition which wants to keep it alive". Hitting back at BJP for criticising the decision to drop the cases, he said that party was in power at the Centre for eight years but had failed to make any headway. In...

The manner in which investigations and prosecutions in the Bofors case were consistently and spectacularly bungled is proof enough that whoever took the Bofors money is supremely powerful. Over the last two decades, there was always someone in the CBI, the courts, the law ministry who was batting for the accused rather than the government. Somehow, Ottavio Quattrocchi always managed to be a step ahead of our law enforcement agencies. And despite the sound and fury in the media and in the Parliament, the suave Italian businessman has ended up laughing all the way to the bank. Quattrocchi's final triumph came on Tuesday when the Solicitor General announced that the Indian government planned to withdraw all cases against him. Quattrocchi has been let off even though many legal experts considered his involvement in the Bofors scam to be an open and shut case. Not because of the investigative skills of our CBI but because the Swedish government, the Swiss courts and investigative jo...

Ahead of the crucial hearing in a Delhi court against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in Bofors gun deal payoff case, an application was on Thursday filed opposing any possible move by CBI to close the case against him. The hearing before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on October 3 assumes significance as the government had on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to withdraw the case against Quattrocchi and CBI is likely to move an application in this regard. Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who has been pursuing the Bofors case in the Supreme Court, filed the application seeking rejection of any such move by the investigating agency alleging that the Centre has been trying to bail out the 69-year-old Italian businessman against whom "there is ample evidence for his prosecution". The advocate referred to a case of 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which a trial court had in 2007 rejected a closure report against former union minister Jagdish Tytler and directed CBI...

The Central Bureau of Investigation will formally move an application before the Magistrates Court in Delhi on Saturday withdrawing the cases against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors Gun Deal, the Union Law Minister has said. "The Government has taken a decision for withdrawal of the cases and the Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the CBI, will move an application before the Magistrate's Court on October 3," , M Veerappa Moily told PTI in an interview.The Minister, who is here at the invitation of the British Government, said that since a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was pending before the Supreme Court, the Solicitor General thought it fit that it should be brought to the notice of the Apex Court. HS Rao London, Oct 1 (PTI)

NEW DELHI: Even before the CBI could file its application in the trial court to close the two-decade old politically sensitive Bofors case, an advocate on Thursday made a plea against the agency's impending request. Advocate Ajay Agrawal, whose appeal against Delhi High Court's judgment in Bofors case is pending in the Supreme Court, pleaded with the trial court to treat him as a "complainant" and requested it to reject the CBI's impending plea for closure of the case. It was during the hearing on his pending appeal that the Centre had informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday about its decision to withdraw permission to CBI to continue prosecution in the Bofors case. It had said that the decision was taken after it found that there was not a shred of evidence against the accused. Agrawal said the HC had erroneously discharged Hinduja brothers and also ruled that there was no evidence to support corruption charges levelled by the CBI against the accused, includi...

The fate of Italian Businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi might be decided tomorrow as the CBI will be pleading before a Delhi court seeking closure of prosecution in Bofors pay off case as all efforts to extradite him for facing the trial here has failed.Quattrocchi, the sole surviving accused in the two-decade-old case after the Delhi High Court quashed the charges on May 31, 2005 against other accused, has never appeared before any court in the country. The CBI, which is probing the politically-sensitive case, will be filing the closure report tomorrow before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja.Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily had yesterday said in London that the CBI will withdraw the case against Quattrocchi. STAFF WRITER 17:24 HRS IST New Delhi, Oct 2 (PTI)

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday moved an application before a court here to quash all charges against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the two-decade-old Bofors pay off case saying the case cannot be kept pending forever as attempts to extradite him have failed in the past. ‘The continued prosecution of Quattrocchi is unjustified in the light of various factors, including the failed attempts to extradite him,’ Additional Solicitor General P.P. Malhotra — appearing for the CBI — said before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja. In a 1987 broadcast, a Swedish radio station alleged that nearly Rs.64 crore ($13 million) were paid in kickbacks to the Congress party and the Rajiv Gandhi government for the multi-billion dollar Bofors howitzer deal. The scandal shook the nation and Rajiv Gandhi lost his two-thirds majority in parliament in the post-Bofors election two years later. CBI seeks closure of cases against ...

Accusing successive Congress-led governments of derailing investigations into the Bofors pay-offs scandal, the CPI(M) today said the "cover up" was now complete with the government deciding the withdraw the case. "At every stage, successive governments headed by the Congress have resorted to various devices to derail the case and protect (key accused Ottavio) Quattrocchi. The CBI was prevented from pursuing the case seriously," the party Politburo said in a statement here. It said the government's latest decision to withdraw the case against Quattrocchi, who was facing prosecution, came in the wake of "prolonged efforts to scuttle the case."   "With this latest act, the cover up of the Bofors bribery case is now complete," the CPI(M) said. Sunday Business Sunday, Oct 04, 2009

Ranchi: The Vigilance Department on Monday filed chargesheets against former Jharkhand ministers Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai in a disproportionate assets case before a Special Vigilance Court here.    “We have filed chargesheets comprising 600 pages against Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai before the Special Vigilance Court,” the Director General of Police (Vigilance) Niaz Ahmed told a news conference. The DGP (Vigilance) claimed that the investigations have revealed that Mr. Ekka had Rs.6.67 crore while Mr. Rai possessed Rs.1.63 crore more than their known sources of income. The two former ministers are presently lodged in jail after they surrendered before the vigilance court last month in connection with the DA case. In November last year, the department had filed FIR against the duo on the direction of the vigilance court. One Kumar Vinod had filed the complaint case before the court accusing the two former ministers of amassing assets running into crores of rupees...

New Delhi: All the sitting Judges of the Supreme Court have filed their declaration of assets in accordance with the resolution dated May 7, 1997, the Supreme Court Registry informed RTI applicant Subhash Chandra Agrawal on Monday. In a brief communication sent to Mr. Agrawal, Additional Registrar Raj Pal Arora said an appeal had been filed before a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court against a single judge’s judgment dated September 2. The letter said the information was being provided in compliance with the order without prejudice to the rights and contentions in the appeal. All rights in relation to appropriate interim relief would be applied “as and when the occasion or circumstances require”. Mr. Agrawal said the information was provided five days after the September 30 deadline. He was of the view that the law should be equal for all. Meanwhile, the Registry filed its appeal seeking to set aside the September 2 judgment. “The single Judge failed to appreciate that for ...

NEW DELHI: CBI on Tuesday sought two weeks time from a trial court for exploring the options available to it in Bofors payoff case after the withdrawal of Interpol’s Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi Allowing the plea, metropolitan magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi granted time to the probe agency after additional solicitor general P P Malhotra submitted that the matter was under consideration of the Centre and CBI. ‘‘The matter is still under consideration of the central government and the process of consultation is likely to take some more time,’’ Malhotra and CBI counsel Naveen Kumar Matta said. They sought adjournment of the matter for two weeks to enable CBI to place the status report. Malhotra also referred to the submission made on the last date of hearing on April 30 when CBI sought two months time for filing the status report in the matter after the court asked it what options were available to it following the withdrawal of RCN against Q...

A Delhi court on Friday reserved judgment on the locus standi of an advocate who has challenged the withdrawal of prosecution by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the multi-crore Bofors gun payoff case. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Kaveri Baweja of the Tis Hazari district courts reserved the judgment after hearing arguments by Additional Solicitor-General, P.P. Malhotra, representing the investing agency, and the advocate petitioner, Ajay Aggarwal. The thrust of the argument of Mr. Malhotra was that Mr. Aggarwal had no locus standi in the matter because “publicity and politics had no role to play in such matters and such a petition could not be entertained.” Submitting that the petitioner had prayed that he be treated as a complainant in the matter of withdrawal of prosecution against Quattrocchi under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code, Mr. Malhotra said even a complainant had no locus standi to interfere ...

NEW DELHI: A city court on Friday reserved its order on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea to withdraw Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi's name from the Bofors gun deal pay-off case. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja reserved the order for Oct 24 on whether the CBI's application under Section 321 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) should be accepted. The CBI had Oct 3 moved an application before a court here to quash all charges against Quattrocchi in the two-decade-old Bofors pay-off case, saying the case cannot be kept pending forever as attempts to extradite him have failed in the past. "The continued prosecution of Quattrocchi is unjustified in the light of various factors, including the failed attempts to extradite him," Additional Solicitor General P.P. Malhotra appearing for the CBI had said before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Baweja. Citing that the court has limited power under section 321 of CrPC, Malhotra said: ...

NEW DELHI: Abrupt closure of the two-decade-old Bofors case is no longer a cause of embarrassment for the UPA government, if one goes by law minister Veerappa Moily. Far from being on the backfoot over the controversial closure of the case, the minister made fun of the question at an interaction with reporters and said the government was not keen to celebrate the golden jubilee of the infamous case. “Already 20 years have passed without a single conviction. The Delhi high court in two judgments said there was neither any corruption nor any conspiracy. Courts in two countries threw out the case. The Supreme Court of Argentina even imposed cost on the government for appealing against the lower court decision (not to extradite Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi). What more does one need to say, nothing is left in the case,” he said. Moily said the CBI had relentlessly pursued the case but nothing came out of it. “What do you want, the government to celebrate its golden jubilee,”...

The Bofors case will be soon laid to rest and the mystery will remain unsolved forever. In 1987, Indians were in for a rude shock when their beloved Prime Minister was allegedly accused of being involved in the Bofors gun scandal. CJ: Sajna Menon IN 1987, Indians were in for a rude shock when their beloved Prime Minister was allegedly involved in a scandal. It was revealed that Rs. 64 crores in kickbacks was received by the then Congress government for a deal with AB Bofors. Two decades and Rs 250 crore (the most Indian expensive investigation) later, the Bofors case is going to be buried silently. AB Bofors signed a Rs.1437 crore deal with the Indian government to supply 400 howitzer guns. However, the deal was signed after a few people received kickbacks. The scandal shook Indian politics and even led to the defeat of the Congress in the 1989 general elections. It was the first time a Prime Minister of the country was implicated in corruption. Another person who made headlines...

CBI today opposed the plea of an advocate opposing withdrawal of the two-decade-old Bofors pay-off against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in a Delhi court, saying a private party has no locus standi in it.

NEW DELHI: Fate of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi will be decided soon with a trial court on Friday reserving the order for October 24 on the plea of CBI to withdraw the Bofors pay-off case against him. The court will also take a decision on the plea of an advocate, who opposed the CBI’s bid to withdraw the case saying that the agency was trying to close the ‘‘politically sensitive’’ case despite having ‘‘sufficient evidence’’ against the 69-year-old Italian businessman. The CBI, on the other hand, sought rejection of the plea opposing withdrawal saying politics and publicity should not decide such matters. TNN 10 October 2009, 05:11am IST

New Delhi, Sept 30 (PTI) Accusing the government of deliberately misrepresenting facts to save Bofors pay-off accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, BJP today said the case against him was withdrawn as he was privy to information which if revealed would embarrass the Congress leadership. "Government of India is deliberately misrepresenting facts to save Quattrocchi. An agency called AE Services had worked to get Bofors the contract. And the principal beneficiary of AE Services is Ottavio Quattrocchi," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. The Rajya Sabha MP recounted the events since Quattrocchi was indicted in the case and said even the former Attorney General Milon Banerjee had tried "to help the Italian businessman by stating in writing that no appeal should be filed in the case". "Quattrocchi knows a lot and if he speaks he may say a lot (baat bahut door tak jayegi)," Prasad said. Press Trust of India - ‎Sep 30, 2009‎

New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Congress today justified the withdrawal of case against prime accused Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors issue and accused the opposition parties of "flogging a dead horse" over it. "How long you are going to flog this dead horse? Foundation of several political careers are built on this dead horse and the government has taken an upfront legal and political call," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters. "If any body desires, he should go to the trial court and oppose the closure of the case," he added.Singhvi said that the party was "not surprised" by the opposition attack but sought to counter-attack BJP by asking why the NDA government led by it failed in Malayasian courts, from lower to the top, in the case seeking extradition of Quattrochchi. Press Trust of India - ‎Sep 30, 2009‎

In a first positive indicator of the Government’s attempts to pursue the unaccounted black money stashed away in foreign banks, the Centre said it would hold talks with the Swiss authorities in December to push for an amendment in the double taxation avoidance regime. Making a disclosure in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said the Government would hold talks with its Swiss counterpart to incorporate disclosure clause as part of the double taxation avoidance treaty binding the two countries that would force Swiss banks to share information about Indian account holders who allegedly have stashed black money with them. The revelation came as part of Subramanium’s submissions in response to a petition filed by noted jurist Ram Jethmalani who sought urgent steps to account for the black money siphoned out from the country and stashed in unknown foreign bank accounts.Arguing before the Bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and B...