Gearing up for a new legal framework to help India and other countries in their fight against black money, Switzerland has said it gets 1,500 administrative assistance requests a year.
This makes Switzerland one of the world's most frequently contacted countries for administrative assistance, as per a statement from the Swiss Federal Council, the apex administrative body of the European nation. In a statement, the Federal Council said it will propose to Parliament a clarification of the legal situation regarding administrativeassistance based on stolen data.
The issue assumes significance for India, as it has been probing various cases of people having allegedly stashed illicit funds in Swiss banks.
However, the source of information in quite a few cases has been termed by Switzerland as 'stolen data' and its domestic law does not permit any cooperation in case information is sourced from ‘stolen data’. Indian authorities have managed conduct their own investigations in some cases before seeking details from Switzerland and the European nation has agreed to cooperate in those cases where India can provide independent evidence.
A meeting was held in Switzerland's capital Bern on Wednesday, where the Federal Council discussed the peer review of the country by the Global Forum, an international body that frames standards for transparency and exchange.