Pune businessman Hasan Ali, accused of stashing away millions in Swiss banks
India may not have a sound case for getting back billions of dollars allegedly stashed in Swiss bank accounts by businessman
Hasan Ali, who is being investigated for massive tax evasion.
NDTV has learnt that India's top lawyer, Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati, has told Income Tax authorities that they have not shown enough proof against the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS), which has been accused of helping Hasan Ali file false tax returns and doctoring account books to hide his alleged black money.
The Attorney General has reportedly said that the tax department did not provide enough documents to proceed against the bank. "Every care must be taken to see that there is adequate material so that the prosecution succeeds. I do not find any material in the file which suggests such abetment or inducement on the part of the officials of the Swiss bank," he reportedly said in a written response to a query by taxmen.
Hasan Ali, whose different businesses include real estate, stud farms, and scrap dealerships, is currently in jail. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March 2011 and has been asked to pay 70,000 crores in unpaid taxes.
The arrest came after the Supreme Court repeatedly reprimanded the government for not following up on critical leads in Ali's case.
Ali's links to Swiss banks were first revealed during raids in 2007, where taxmen reportedly found documents giving details of eight billion dollars in a UBS account in Zurich. The bank said the documents could be forged.
The Enforcement Directorate had sought details of his accounts from Swiss banks in a letter rogatory, or diplomatic note. But the banks refused to do so, citing a technical point that not filing tax returns in India was not an offence under Swiss law.
The Centre has been targeted by opposition parties, mainly the BJP, for not doing enough to bring back crores in black money. (
read: Don't need to dig for gold if we get black money back: Modi)