Citing confidentially, the government refused to share information on black money cases received from Switzerland.

In a reply to an RTI application filed by a PTI journalist, the Ministry of Finance refused to share details on the case-to-case basis on the investigations carried out.

"The information shared by Switzerland on black money cases is governed by confidentiality provisions," the reply said.

The RTI request sought information on black money cases received from Switzerland, including the names of firms and individuals, besides the details of action taken on the information.

India and Switzerland are signatories to Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC), which allows for automatic sharing of financial account information between the two countries, the ministry said. It was jointly signed on 22 November, 2016.

"The necessary legal arrangements have been put in place and from 2019 onwards, India will receive information of financial accounts held by Indian residents in Switzerland for the calender year 2018 and subsequent years," it further said.

It was to enable tracing unaccounted income and assets of Indian residents in Switzerland and bringing the same to tax. There is no estimation of amount of black money in circulation both inside and outside the country, the ministry said.

The Finance Ministry was also asked to provide details of black money cases received from other countries, to which it said that based upon the information received from France under the Indo-French Double Taxation Avoidance Convention, assessment proceedings have been completed in all 427 actionable HSBC bank account cases.

"In these cases, undisclosed income of about Rs 8,465 crore has been brought to tax on account of deposits made in the unreported foreign bank accounts. Out of the above mentioned 427 cases in which assessments have been completed, concealment penalty of about Rs 1,291 crore has been levied in 162 cases," the ministry said.

In reply to an earlier RTI application filed by PTI, the Finance Ministry had declined to share copies of three reports on the quantum of black money held by Indians inside the country and abroad, saying they were being examined by a parliamentary panel and disclosing details will cause a breach of privilege of the House.

According to PTI, these reports were submitted to the government over four years ago.

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