EC issues notice to Trinamool

NEW DELHI, April 29, 2011: The Election Commission has issued notices to the Trinamool Congress and the chairmen of the United Bank of India and the Allahabad Bank in Kolkata seeking their explanation for availing themselves of /issuing pay orders for Rs.1.33 crore against cash payment.

In the notice to the Trinamool president, the EC wanted to know from the party the “circumstances under which the pay orders got issued by deposit of cash, in violation of the Reserve Bank of India guidelines without routing it through the bank account and the Commission's instructions on the subject.”

The Commission recalled that, at its all-party meeting and through various instructions, it had advised all parties to avoid transactions in cash during the election process in West Bengal.

In the notices sent to the chairmen of the United Bank of India and the Allahabad Bank, seeking their explanation by April 29, the Commission said the Kolkata main branch 14-India Exchange Place of Allahabad Bank had made two drafts for Rs.10 lakh by deposit of cash by the Trinamool, dated April 25, 2011, favouring M Power Global Access India Limited.

The Old Court House Street branch of the United Bank of India had made five drafts for Rs.1.23 crore on March 23, 2011, against deposit of cash by the Trinamool favouring Visual Audio.

“The RBI guidelines dated 1.7.2009 categorically prohibit any remittance of funds, by way of DD/telegraphic transfer or any other mode, of Rs.50,000 and above against cash payment. Besides, the EC is concerned about cash transactions during the election process as such transaction vitiates the poll process,” the notices said.

Flow of black money in West Bengal elections

Sat, 2011-04-23 09:59 — tikender

As West Bengal is passing through one of its toughest battles in the political arena with all sorts of forces from extreme Left-Centre- Extreme Right aligning to defeat the Left, the issue of Corporate entry , read with Black money has become a prominent issue . Thanks to the people of this state who have responded positively to this issue though in neo liberalism it is brushed under the carpet. Though the efforts , as stated in an article written by P Sainath in The Hindu’ that bribers should be legitimized, are to underlay this foremost issue of the people that is also connected to their livelihoods. As has appeared in a section of print and electronic media especially in West Bengal that rampant flow of Black money is taking place with the Corporate houses backing the TMC, the revelation made during the burning of fraud receipts have thoroughly exposed the party of massive inflow of such money. The phases that have passed by have reported that allurement from umbrellas, cash , CD players to Colour television sets have been made by the TMC in North Bengal not to undermine the massive flow and distribution of free liquor in targeted colonies with hard cash along. No surprise that even the US imperialism has set its eyes on the election to ensure that the agenda of neo liberalism is carried on unhindered in the Indian nation state with the removal of Left Front government one of the foremost outposts of the struggle against the policies of LPG.

After all where does this money comes from?

Com Gautam Deb one of the ministers in the West Bengal has made a scathing attack on the TMC and some of the sources from where this BM is pouring in. There is another source which has relatively not been underlined and in fact underestimated its strength. I am talking about the person who was caught with Rs 57 lac cash while travelling from Assam to Delhi in a chartered aircraft. Somehow he was let off by the concerned authorities though a complaint has been made with the Election Commission as well. He also happens to be the owner of Alchemist and his name is Kanwar Deep Singh @ KD Singh. What is his relation with WB election? Apart from having business interests in the region he is the one who hails from Punjab became and independent Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. How? Does not require any description. One can easily decipher the reality. And now is a member of TMC. This KD Singh not only is one amongst the largest sources of funding and providing BM in the elections it also has a dubious history and methodology of creating this money bypassing the law of the land and cheating the people. I have a case to the point that connects his to my state of Himachal Pradesh as well.

The state of Himachal Pradesh has a peculiar qualification in the Land reforms and tenancy act . Accordingly , non-agriculturist even if one is from Himachal what to talk about non-Himachalis, can purchase land in the state. But KD Singh owing to expand his business interests entered into an agreement with a management of a prestigious school named Himalayan International School’ (HIS) , Charabra just 7 kilometers from Shimla that he will buy the school and the 30 bighas landed property alongwith for a sum of Rs 12 crores. However it is not admissible under the provisions of law . Then a dummy agriculturist in the garb of a buyer was created and a sale deed was registered for Rs 6 crore only the rest amount given in Black. This money was paid from the accout of Alchemist/KD Singh. Immediately thereafter , the school management was changed with a congruency of Alchemist management taking over. The first task it performed was to shut the school down and ask the parents to withdraw their children and the staff and the teachers were asked to resign as the school was now to be re-designed into a hospitality department i.e a multi star hotel.

However with the intervention of the parents and the people of HP, the High Court was knocked and it is with such an intervention that stayed the evil intentions of the TMC Member of Parliament. The civil writ petition in has asked for snatching the aforesaid property from KD Singh and vesting it with the state of HP as the deal has taken place in contravention to the provisions of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act.

The move has thoroughly exposed the sinister designs of the TMC MP and it is this exactly what best the TMC can offer to the people of West Bengal with such high profile’ tagged people in its coterie of bandwagon.

Govt has not done enough: Switzerland’s Ambassador

Aniek Paul, LIVEMINT, Posted: Tue, Mar 29 2011. 1:00 AM IST

Switzerland’s ambassador to India, Philippe Welti, said India has not done enough to obtain information from his country’s banks on money laundering despite the public outrage over it.

It was not “fair” to see Swiss lenders as protecting criminals by not co-operating with Indian law enforcement agencies, Welti said on Monday.

India must file “legitimate requests” with Swiss authorities for banks to release data on illegitimate money allegedly stashed away in numbered accounts, he said. “Check with your government how many requests have been filed,” Welti said. “I don’t want to say more.”

He dismissed claims made in Parliament and in petitions filed with courts that up to $1.43 trillion (`64 trillion) of black money was stashed away in Swiss banks. “The figure is unimaginable, it is a complete fantasy,” he said.

Swiss banking secrecy laws are not intended to “protect criminals” and “commercial profits” from being taxed, Welti said. But for India to gain access to data, it must file requests with some evidence in support of its claim. “We aren’t asking governments to prove the charges; we are only asking them to make the claim plausible,” he said.

Earlier Switzerland would readily share data on “tax frauds” such as money laundering. Under a treaty signed with India in August, which is to be ratified by the Swiss parliament “within weeks”, even tax evasions qualify for “data release”, according to Welti.

“But here we aren’t talking about tax evasion only, we are talking about tax frauds such as money laundering,” Welti said, undermining the Indian government’s argument that Swiss authorities weren’t willing to share data from its banks under the double-taxation treaty.

To illustrate Swiss authorities took proactive steps in seizing illegitimate money, Welti said his government had already “blocked” the assets of Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president of Egypt, “anticipating claims from successors” who form a “legitimate government”.

Under an ongoing investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been claiming businessmen Hasan Ali Khan and Kashinath Tapuriah have accounts in Swiss banks, and at least one of them has been blocked by the Swiss authorities because around $300 million came from the world’s most notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi with a tag from the remitting US bank saying “proceeds from arms sale”.

Officials of the directorate, which investigates economic crime, have made several trips to Switzerland in the past four years and have requested Swiss authorities to release data from the bank accounts of Khan and Tapuriah.

Defending the Swiss government, Welti said it wouldn’t entertain requests filed by investigating agencies such as the ED, income-tax department and the Central Bureau of Investigation. Such requests must be routed through the government under “procedures decided in the treaty” signed in August, he said.

Swiss envoy rubbishes $1.43 tn black money claim

By Sougata Mukhopadhyay

CNN-IBN, Updated Mar 29, 2011 at 08:41am IST

Kolkata: In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN, Swiss Ambassador Philippe Welti has rubbished India's claim that trillions of dollars are stashed away in Swiss banks.

Embarrassing the Government India, Welti has alleged that the Centre has not done enough to get information on money laundering.

The Government hasn't filed a single application in a proper manner agreed upon by the two governments in its double taxation treaty to access such data.

"All that the Indian government needs to do is to apply in a proper manner as per rules agreed upon by the two governments," said Welti.

The earlier treaty has been revised and under the new treaty the Swiss government would part with data on not only cases of tax frauds (which was agreed upon in the old treaty) but also on tax evasions.

"We have had a many years of treaty which allows the data to release on request is cases, for example tax frauds. Now the good news is that we have negotiated together with India, revision of tax treaty which allows in the future also release of data in cases of tax evasion and this is being ratified very soon it will be implemented. If you have good case sufficient evidence and you can designate the person or the bank account or can even have the cases where the bank account is good enough even you do not have the name. So things have in fact become easier," the Swiss Ambassador said.

As per rules, the Indian Government needs to have a prima facie case against the person who it suspects to have resorted to tax fraud/evasion. Even a particular bank account number would suffice in case of absence of a name.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department (IT) or the CBI cannot get access to information directly from any Swiss bank. The request has to come from the proper channel, that is from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to the Swiss Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Talking on the claim made by the ED, IT and the CBI that they have visited Switzerland, have requested for data and information from Swiss banks but they have failed to receive any information, Welti said, "If such agencies have tried and were unsuccessful and I was not aware of that my tentative answer that they probably tried that but that is against the bank rules. It has to go from one government to the other and the channel for the communication is the foreign ministries."

On the issue of $1.43 trillion black money figure quoted in the Indian Parliament that's supposedly stashed away in Swiss accounts, Welty said, "That figure is known to me because it has been repeated to me many times by journalists, who copy each other. The figure is pure fantasy."