Dear Friends & critics
Plundering India – only this time it isn’t the Brits, the French, the Spaniards, the Dutch or the Portuguese…or the ever present invisible evil “foreign hand” meddling in India’s affairs. – Rejoice it’s those who belong to the pool of Indian citizens, like you & me.
Tax havens are estimated to number more than 70 but the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that approximately forty (40) of them aggressively market themselves as tax havens.
The Most Popular tax haven in the world is Switzerland, besides Luxemburg, Lichtenstein, Channel Islands, Bahamas, etc.
1. In State of MP vs. Ram Singh 2000 (5) SCC 88, the Supreme Court said:
“Corruption is termed as a plague, which is not only contagious but if not controlled, spreads like a fire in a jungle. Its virus is compared with HIV leading to AIDS, being incurable. It has also been termed as royal thievery. The sociopolitical system exposed to such a dreaded communicable disease is likely to crumble under its own weight. Corruption is opposed to democracy and social order, being not only anti-people, but aimed and targeted against them. It affects the economy and destroys the cultural heritage. Unless nipped in the bud at the earliest, it is likely to cause turbulence – shaking the socioeconomic- political system in an otherwise healthy, wealthy, and effective and vibrating society”. State of MP vs. Ram Singh 2000 (5) SCC 88.
2. On January 19, 2011 the the Supreme Court of India made an historic observation about this shameful phenomenon of Indian funds kept illegally abroad and the obstructionist attitude of the Central Government in unraveling the truth. The Bench was observing on the Petition filed by Ram Jethmalani and others with reference to the illegal money kept by Indians in the Lichtenstein bank.
Supreme Court of India describing black money stashed away abroad by Indians as “pure and simple theft of national money,” the Supreme Court questioned the Centre’s approach to tackling this menace and retrieving the huge amount kept in foreign banks.
When Solicitor-General (SG) Gopal Subramaniam presented a sealed list of 26 names who had accounts with Liechtenstein Bank, a Bench of Justices B. Sudershan Reddy and S.S. Nijjar was not convinced of the steps taken by the government for getting back black money.
Justice Reddy, after perusing the list, told the SG: “This is all the information you have or you have something more! We are talking about the huge money. It is a plunder of the nation. It is a pure and simple theft of the national money. We are talking about mind-boggling crime. We are not on niceties of various treaties.”
Senior counsel Anil Divan alleged inaction on the part of the Centre in bringing back black money parked in foreign banks.
The Indian Supreme court has rightly analyzed the malaise as the “plunder of the nation” and not a simple tax avoidance issue.
3. Swiss Banking Association Report (2006), says “India has more black money than the rest of the world combined.” The amount is apporximately $1.456 billion (USD) in black money in Swiss banks.
4. Global Financial Integrity, a research and advocacy organization working to curtail illicit financial flows out of developing countries, has pegged the losses on account of illicit financial flows due to tax evasion, crime and corruption at $462 billion since 1947, the year we obtained our Independence from Britain.
5. Global Financial Integrity (GFI) study estimated that black money to the tune of $22.7-$27.3 billion left India annually during 2002-2006
6. According to the GFI study the Yearly Average Illicit Financial Outflows from INDIA between the years 2002-2006 had an estimated value between $22,726 million US Dollars (USD) and $27,304 Million US Dollars (USD).
7. In their article “External Debt and Capital Flight in the Indian Economy” by Niranjan Chipalkatti & Meenakshi Rishi (Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2001. The authors point out the following:
(a) “Indian capital flight at US $88 billion (in 1997 dollars) over the 1971-1997 period, a sum that is roughly 20% of the US $448 billion real external debt disbursed to the country over the same time period (World Bank, 1999). There is also evidence of a strong year-to-year correlation between debt inflows and flight-capital outflows.
(b) “India’s external debt is conceived to be relatively high by international standards. An outstanding external debt of $94.4 billion (USD) at the end of 1997 places India among the top 10 debtors among all developing nations.
(c) While the Indian elite evaded taxes on a Himalayan scale, India’s external debt was relatively high by international standards. An outstanding external debt of US $94.4 billion at the end of 1997 placed India among the top 10 debtors among all developing nations. – World Bank.
(d) According to Frontline (1997, p. 99), economists at Florida International University estimated Indian capital flight at $4.4 billion in 1993, $5.8 billion in 1994 and $5.5 billion in 1995 (totaling $15.7 billion).
(e) In 1999 the World Bank ranked India as the eighth most indebted country in Asia, Africa and Latin America (i.e on 3 continents) and the fourth most heavily indebted nation in Asia.
8) 2011 – GFI report states:
” From 1948 through 2008 India lost a total of $213 billion in illicit financial flows (or illegal capital flight).
These illicit financial flows were generally the product of: corruption, bribery and kickbacks, criminal activities, and efforts to shelter wealth from a country’s tax authorities.”
Author’s final thoughts: While millions of men, women & children starved in our beloved India, those in positions of wealth & power raped and maimed the country. They destroyed and continue to destroy millions of human lives, the economic and social fabric of the Nation. These corrupt men & women belong to all religions, caste, color, regions and states of India.
While the politicians, businessmen/women, industrialists and the other ELITIST preached the illiterate, poverty stricken, helpless masses to “surrendering themselves to God, since their suffering was due to their own bad Karma which they accumulated in their past lives and so on”, they siphoned off millions from our Nation’s treasury, leaving those living in abject poverty, without the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, health care and education, after all the masses were doomed due to their bad karma.
Perhaps it is time for us as a nation to collectively bow our heads in shame for not questioning those in power and not asking ourselves what is the purpose or foundation of religion itself ? What is the purpose of my life on this earth ? Hope you all will join me in transforming India, by making a difference in the life of at least one fellow human being. I wish you a happy journey. ~ Thank you.
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