SWISS 2 LST

Following SBA's comments, Indian Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee had said that New Delhi was not interested in
any fishing expedition of details of money stashed with them
but will work on specific cases.

Asked why Switzerland is not entertaining India's
request when it has already given account details of a large
number people to the US government, Leuthard said there have
been specific requests from Washington on which informations
were given.

Last month, the US reached an agreement with
Switzerland under which top Swiss bank UBS AG turned over
details of 4,450 secret accounts to the Internal Revenue
Service.

India is scheduled to begin talks with Switzerland in
December for amending the avoidance of double taxation
agreement with respect to the exchange of information.

The issue of Indians stashing away money in Swiss tax
havens came into prominence during the Lok Sabha (Lower House
of Indian Parliament) elections and the Opposition and the
government traded charges on the issue.

The government recently said that it has approached
Switzerland seeking details about bank accounts held by
Indians there.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had informed
Parliament that the government was committed to unearthing
black money within and outside the country. PTI