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 !”

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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]

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Pakistan: State and religious jingoism

PAKISTAN'S President Asif Ali Zardari, under pressure from conservatives, has signed a regulation imposing Islamic law in the north-western Swat valley as part of a deal to end Taliban violence.

The White House voiced disappointment, saying the decision went against U.S. goals of promoting democracy and human rights. Critics accuse Pakistan's government of demonstrating a lack of will to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Zardari signed the regulation late on Monday after the National Assembly passed a resolution recommending he approve it.

Many residents of the scenic valley, 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, hoped the agreement would bring peace after 18 months of bloodshed.

"As long as there's peace it doesn't matter what the law is," said Javed Ahmed, 26, a shopkeeper in Swat's main town of Mingora. "If sharia law can do that, that's just fine."

Surging violence across Pakistan and the spread of Taliban influence through the northwest are reviving concerns about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important U.S. ally vital to efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

The government has struggled to come up with an effective strategy, alternating in different areas between military offensives and peace deals.

But the militants have been gaining strength while violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan has been on the rise.

Swat was one of Pakistan's main tourist destinations until 2007, when militants infiltrated into the valley from strongholds on the Afghan border to the west in support of a radical cleric.

After inconclusive military offensives and a failed peace pact, authorities accepted an Islamist demand for sharia, or Islamic law, in February.

"The administration believes solutions involving security in Pakistan don't include less democracy and less human rights," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Tuesday when asked about Zardari's signing of the regulation.

"The signing of that, denoting strict Islamic law in the Swat Valley ... goes against both of those principles," he added. "We're disappointed that the parliament didn't take into account the legitimate concerns around civil and human rights."

Like his predecessor, General Pervez Musharraf, Zardari has spoken out strongly against the threat posed by the Taliban and militancy to Pakistan's future.

Zardari, however, has become arguably as unpopular as Musharraf, the military ruler he forced from office last August, and his views run counter to the mood in the Muslim nation.

Rival Nawaz Sharif, currently the most popular politician in the country, remains equivocal on the issue, having stopped short of giving strong public backing for the use of force.

Many Pakistanis believe the violence would wind down if the government and the army resisted U.S. calls for more action against the militants.

The United States and Pakistani critics say deals with the Taliban create safe havens for them and their al Qaeda allies.

Sufi Mohammad, a pro-Taliban cleric who brokered the Swat accord, said it would bring peace to the valley.

"Those who have carried guns will quit their armed struggle," he told ARY television.

The Taliban brought fear to the valley, bombing and beheading members of the security forces, executing opponents and blowing up hundreds of girls' schools.

Ayesha Khan, a women's rights activist from Swat now living in the capital, said the government was accepting Taliban rule by submitting to demands for sharia.

"How can this regulation bring peace or real justice if you don't have even your basic rights?" she asked. "People may be happy today but they're going to regret it."

Some Taliban fighters last week moved out of Swat and into Buner district, only 100 km (60 miles) from Islamabad.

Buner residents formed a militia to try to resist the militants and 13 people, including eight Taliban, three policemen and two villagers, were killed in clashes. But, police and residents say the Taliban has begun imposing its rule in Buner.

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