Govt admits seeking info on black money in Germany

In reply to an RTI application by a NGO, the Centre admitts that they interacted with the German Govt to know about the black money stashed by Indians in LTG Bank in Liechtenstein, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Jul 16, 2008, 24:36:37 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Centre has admitted to having interacted with the German government on information regarding black money stashed by Indians in LTG Bank in Liechtenstein, a landlocked country between Austria and Switzerland. This has been admitted by the Commerce Ministry in reply to an RTI application by NGO Transparency International-India. The ministry has, however, refused to divulge the contents of the letters exchanged between the two governments, stating that it could adversely affect its relations with Germany.

It is believed that Indians have deposits in the LTG bank, similar to ill-gotten money kept in bank accounts in St Kitts Island and Switzerland.

For the first time, the government admitted that it had sought information on Indian account holders from Germany. The ministry said it sought information from the German government on its own initiative in February 2008 under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).

The Commerce Ministry refused to disclose transcriptions of interactions between the two governments, citing Article 26 of the DTAA. The Article says any information from a contracting state shall be secret and that it shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities involved in the assessment or collection of, the enforcement or prosecution in respect of, or determination of appeals in relation to, taxes covered under the agreement, the public information officer (PIO) of the Commerce Ministry said.

The PIO also quoted section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act, which debars providing information that can harm India’s security, strategic, scientific or economic interests with a foreign state.

Disagreeing with the PIO’s contention, the NGO has filed an appeal with the first appellate authority of the ministry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.