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INDIANS have been stashing away black monies
in Swiss banks for decades. Just read the Banking
Association Report of 2006 that reveals that India
topped the list of Countries with businessmen
and politicians having deposits of US $ 1456 Billion
in Swiss banks…Russia came in second at
US $ 470 billion.
 Much
before the world’s 20 most powerful countries
(the G20) decided to launch a crackdown on tax
havens on April 2, India’s revenue department
had sounded an alarm on several recent foreign
investment proposals routed through Mauritius
in sectors ranging from telecom to real estate.
Many Indian newspapers have begun questioning
the mode of development and the rerouting of Indian
money via these tax heavens. The issue is already
on political radar with the Left and the BJP taking
it up. The congress is silent for obvious reasons.
According to the Hindustan Times, “ Of
a total of 49 proposals taken up the foreign investment
promotion board (FIPB) on March 20, the department
of revenue had sent in objections to as many as
14 proposals, with an aggregate investment of
$357 million (Rs 1,785 crore). The department
raised objections as these “involve treaty
shopping and funds routed through Mauritius to
take advantage of double taxation avoidance agreements
(DTAA).” about Rs 55,000 crore ($11 billion)
or 43 per cent of total FDI inflows during the
April- February 2008-09.
These proposals covered a broad spectrum of
the economy including telecom, broadcasting, luxury
hotels, infrastructure, real estate and beauty
care products. Mauritius is the largest source
of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India,
contributing “Round tripping” or “treaty
shopping” by Indian entities involve moving
money out of the country and getting it back in
through “GBC 1” category of companies,
incorporated in Mauritius.
For example, a resident of India investing directly
in shares of Indian company would have to pay
his taxes in India. But if he routes it through
a resident Mauritius entity for buying the shares
of an Indian company, taxes can be avoided under
the existing DTAA. There were three major sources
— Cyprus, UAE and Mauritius — where
the problem of ‘round tripping’ had
arisen.
Earlier the Press Trust of India had reported,
“There has been flow of black money from
India and other countries into Swiss banks but
stashing such money in those banks is expected
to be more difficult following a new legislation
in Switzerland, the country's Ambassador to India
Dominique Dreyer said."The Swiss government
has taken up legislation to check inflow of any
kind of black money to its banks. Moreover, “Dreyer
said in New Delhi.
Addressing a press conference to commemorate
the 60 years of Indo-Swiss Friendship Treaty,
he said the new law would effectively check flow
of black money or money with "dubious origin"
into Switzerland."Switzerland was accused
of giving shelter to black money and there has
been a lot of inflow of such wealth from India
and other countries of the world," Dreyer
said. The Ambassador said "I would not say
it would be stopped 100 per cent (under the new
law). But through this measure, it would be controlled
up to a certain limit."
The people of India knew all this. Indians have
been stashing away black monies in Swiss banks
for decades. Just read the Banking Association
Report of 2006 that reveals that India topped
the list of Countries with businessmen and politicians
having deposits of US $ 1456 Billion in Swiss
banks…Russia came in second at US $ 470
billion.
In fact Indians have stashed away more funds
in Swiss Banks than those from all other nations
put together ! And the Swiss are willing to disclose
in detail all the names of Indian Depositors if
our Government wants this List….Our Government
has preferred to stay mute on this !…No
Guess as to Why !
Over 80000 Indians visited Switzerland this
past year and at least 25000 were not tourists
and that tells another story.
This Illegal and ill-begotten Wealth is even
higher than India’s GDP Wealth of a Billion
Dollars and three times that of our Market Capitalisation
Wealth on BSE !
As one commentator wrote , “With the Indo
US Nuclear deal having been signed now, no one
should have any doubt that Mothers of Many Deals
lie ahead and will create unprecedented Mother
of All Opportunities for many to add to this Booty
in Swiss Banks !….Just a Sad and Angry Thought
!”
BACK
ASEAN Summit Fiasco,
summer of discontent looms
Marwaan Macan-Markar
THE dramatic scenes that unfolded at a regional
summit forcing its cancellation Apr. 11 point
to a disturbing possibility that this kingdom
is heading for a long period of turmoil - pitting
the conservative political establishment against
the rage of the urban and provincial poor.
The four-month-old coalition government, headed
by the Democrat Party, was forced to call off
the two-day, 16-nation summit after thousands
of anti-government protesters broke through a
wall of police and army personnel guarding the
venue and swarmed into the conference halls.
In this loss to the country, anyone or any group
of people that announces a victory should be regarded
as the true enemies of Thailand, the visibly shaken
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said at
a press conference in the aftermath of the ruined
summit. "Whatever status I have, I will never
allow these people to become influential."
The summit had brought together leaders of countries
who belong to a 10- member regional bloc, the
Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN),
and leaders from its economic and dialogue partners.
ASEAN’s members include Brunei, Burma (or
Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the summit’s
host, Thailand. The bloc’s partners range
from China, Japan and South Korea to Australia
and India.
The scene of anarchy that was played out in Pattaya,
a resort town south of Bangkok where the leaders
were to talk, was, in a sense, the final act of
a regional meeting that had struggled to get underway
due to the political tug- of-war that has gripped
this country since the September 2006 coup.
The 14th ASEAN summit had to be postponed twice
late last year after the coalition government
of the day, led by the People Power Party (PPP),
was crippled due to a protest movement that drew
thousands of yellow-shirt wearing followers from
the urban elites who openly advocated pro-royalist,
conservative and right-wing views.
The "yellow-shirts" took to the streets
in late March 2008 and then stormed the prime
minister’s office, Government House, in
August and occupied it for over three months.
In late November, they gave the PPP government
its bloodiest nose by forcefully taking over Bangkok’s
largest international airport, bringing all airline
traffic to a halt.
The Democrat Party, the opposition in 2008, got
its chance to govern and host the summit in 2009
due to fortunate circumstances. In December, the
PPP-led coalition, which had won convincingly
at a late 2007 general election, was disbanded
in a controversial ruling by a superior court.
The Democrats filled the void thanks to backroom
deals involving the country’s powerful military
and large sums of money reportedly paid to parliamentarians
to join the new coalition.
This shift of power hardly impressed supporters
of the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship
(UDD), who stormed the ASEAN summit and forced
its cancellation over the weekend. Supporters
of this protest movement are recognised by the
trademark red shirts that they wear and their
slogans against the Democrat Party-led coalition,
declaring that it "lacks legitimacy."
The "red shirts" also stand out for
their open support of former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who was ousted by the military in
the 2006 putsch and is on the run in exile to
avoid arrest for breaking conflict-of-interest
laws and corruption charges.
Thaksin led a government that won successive
parliamentary elections in 2001 and 2005 with
unprecedented majorities. He still has deep support
among the urban and provincial underclass due
to a raft of pro-poor policies he implemented
during his five-and-a-half-year term in office.
The PPP drew similar support due to its strong
ties with the deposed Thaksin. Its electoral triumph
in the late 2007 poll saw Thailand making a tentative
return to democracy after being under the rule
of a junta for 16 months.
But, for the second time in less than two years
the electoral choice of the country’s largest
constituency - the urban and provincial poor -
was under attack by the political conservative
forces that revile Thaksin and his associates.
While it was the army that played its part through
the country’s 18th coup in 2006, in 2008
it was the courts, issuing controversial and,
at times, farcical judgements.
The ruling Democrat-led administration is being
buffeted by the rage that has burst to the surface
from this disenfranchised constituency. The "red
shirts" have taken to the streets since late
March and have begun to repeat some tactics of
the "yellow shirts" - holding round-the-clock
protests outside Government House.
Among them are people like Pricha Jaibanpad,
a taxi driver from the northern city of Chiang
Mai. This 48-year-old was involved in a form of
civil disobedience on Thursday that demonstrated
the muscle of the marginalised: nearly 100 taxi
drivers parked their vehicles across the streets
of a busy intersection, clogging traffic and bring
parts of Bangkok to a standstill.
"Many taxi drivers have come. They feel
it is their responsibility because of the love
for democracy," said Pricha, standing by
his car that had a coat of canary yellow and green
paint and carried a banner in Thai, which read:
"Elite, aristocrat policy exploits human
dignity."
The show of force by the "red shirts"
in the recent weeks to shake up the conservative
political establishment that the Democrat-led
administration presides over is already being
viewed as a watershed moment in Thai politics.
"The country has had political mobilisations
against governments going back to 1973. But what
is new is that it is not the Bangkok middle class
trying to force a government out of power; for
the first time, it is the up-country people trying
to push the government in Bangkok out," says
Michael Nelson, a German academic who has written
extensively on Thai politics.
The emerging "red shirt" movement goes
against a view that the urban elite has long held,
that they determine the country’s national
agenda, Nelson explained in an interview. "There
is a Thai saying that the up-country people vote
governments in and the Bangkok people topple the
governments."
He views this sea change as a "sign of enormous
political progress" of a constituency that
was often sneered at by the elites as being passive,
uneducated and not interested in politics. "They
want to have more shares to determine the national
agenda." [Courtesy IPS]
BACK
Econom ning crisis
Gobind Thukral
SINGAPORE: The entire world is passing through
a huge economic crisis that was triggered in America
six months back when banks, financial corporations
and markets started tumbling down. Billions of
dollars were lertainty.
Very soon as more turn jobless and poor, the
world, particularly the rich countries would witness
social tensions, increased crime and lawlessness.
The political turmoil would upset many calculations.
The gov
BACK
Eco ng crs
Gobind Thukral
SINGAPORE: The entire world is passing through
a huge economic crisis that was triggered in America
six months back when banks, financial corporations
and markets started tumbling down. Billions of
dollars were lertainty.
Very soon as more turn jobless and poor, the
world, particularly the rich countries would witness
social tensions, increased crime and lawlessness.
The political turmoil would upset many calculations.
The gov
BACK
Ecod fdgis gfhis
Gobind Thukral
SINGAPORE: The entire world is passing through
a huge economic crisis that was triggered in America
six months back when banks, financial corporations
and markets started tumbling down. Billions of
dollars were lertainty.
Very soon as more turn jobless and poor, the
world, particularly the rich countries would witness
social tensions, increased crime and lawlessness.
The political turmoil would upset many calculations.
The gov
BACK
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