The Hindu : National : Report: Centre submitted forged documents in Hassan Ali case

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Report: Centre submitted forged documents in Hassan Ali case

Vinay Kumar

Swiss authorities sought more information on investigation, says magazine

NEW DELHI: Swiss authorities have told an Indian news magazine that Indian authorities submitted in the case of Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan, who has a Swiss bank account, a request in January 2007 for legal assistance to the Federal Office of Justice. Swiss authorities, upon domestic inquiry, found that the banking information provided with the request for legal assistance contained “forged documents.”

Last week, the Centre, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, had detailed the action it had taken against Hassan Ali Khan, his wife Rheema and Kolkata-based businessman, Kashi Nath Tapuria, who allegedly were holding about $ 8 billion in an UBS account in Switzerland.

In a communication from Folco Galli, Information Chief of the Swiss Department of Justice and Police, Berne, the magazine Hardnews was informed that the Indian authorities had submitted “forged” documents to seek assistance on the Hassan Ali Khan case.

Specific queries

In its May issue, the magazine said Swiss authorities put forward some specific queries to enable them to examine the Indian government’s request.

These include a confirmation that the Indian investigation was a criminal one, a better description of the predicate offences which are object of the Indian money laundering investigation, and to show the relation between the predicate offices and the accounts in Switzerland.

“Swiss authorities want to provide further assistance in that case if the Indian authorities could satisfy the Swiss government’s demand to establish dual criminality – what is crime in India is a crime in Switzerland. The Swiss also wanted to know whether Hassan Ali Khan’s offence was an object of Indian money laundering. Since April 2007, the Indian government has not responded to Swiss authorities on this issue,” the magazine report claimed.

It quoted Mr. Galli as having said that the Indian authorities submit only a few requests per year to Switzerland.

He did not elaborate on the quality of these requests and what came of them.

Another aspect probed by the magazine was how much of Indian funds are stashed away in the Swiss banks. Is it really Rs. 70 lakh crore as claimed by the BJP or is it less?

The Swiss Bankers’ Association Communication Director James Nason told the magazine in Berne about the money held in their accounts.

The Swiss National Bank, Mr. Nason stated, comes out with details of bonds and securities held in custody account in Switzerland. At the end of 2008, the total was 3,822 billion CHF (Swiss Frank = Rs. 43). Out of this, 2,190 billion CHF was of foreign entities that included the government, institutional and private. Indians had 4,306 million CHF liabilities.

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