Indian names in Swiss bank data list : Assange

New Delhi, April 26 (PTI) In comments that could fuel
a fresh controversy over the black money issue, WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange Tuesday said there are Indian names in
the Swiss bank data list that are going to be made public.
"Yes, there are Indian names in the data that we have
already published or are going to publish. I can't remember
specifically whether there are Indian names in the coming
publication. But I have read Indian names," Assange told Times
Now.
Indicating that there are bigwigs among the Indians
having their accounts in Swiss banks, he said, "Similarly, in
these private Swiss banking concerns, where you need at least
a million dollar, which is a significant amount of money...not
an average Indian..."
Asked whether the names will come at any point, he
said on "that, you should absolutely not loose hope".
He, however, declined to reveal anything more on the
issue at this stage.
Noting that he has come to know through a report that
there are more Indian deposits in the Swiss banks than any
other nationality, Assange said, "there is no reason why India
should not be aggressive."
Praising German government for its aggressive approach
to unearth black money stashed offshore, he said that India
"should be more aggressive because India seems like it is
loosing per capita much more tax than Germany."
Assange alleged that Indian government's response to
the WikiLeaks cables was "one of the worst in the world" and a
"clear attempt to mislead the nation on what the cables were".
He said that response by the Indian government left a
lot to be desired.
Assange also dismissed contention of the Indian
government that accords on double taxation were coming in the
way of tracking the trail of black money.
"Double taxation does not have anything to do with
asset hiding. It doesn't simply cover asset hiding," he said.
Assange said that issue of stashing blackmoney in
foreign banks was much worse than just local corruption as
when money is pushed offshore, ".....then everytime they are
selling rupees and the result is that the currency of the
nation is debased...everything for all Indians become more
expensive as a result of that transfer."
Assange had earlier claimed that he was handed over
documents of bank accounts by a former banker Rudolf Elmer and
the whistleblower also claimed that the names in the documents
came from "US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia -- from all
over," and include "business people, politicians, people who
have made their living in the arts and multinational
conglomerates -- from both sides of the Atlantic".