Financial Transparency Coalition

"The complaint of money being transferred to foreign banks in Switzerland has been subject to investigations by top-notch agencies including the Directorate Revenue Intelligence (DRI)," said Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal, while reacting to the allegations made by Bharatiya Janata Party that an amount of 'Rs 70,000 lakh crore' has been stacked away in Swiss banks.

Tax havens such as Panama came under intense scrutiny at the G-20 summit last week as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a new tax-haven list, including Panama among 30 target countries that agreed to adopt international tax norms years ago but failed to do so.1 Focus on Panama's tax-haven and money-laundering problems intensified in March when US Trade Representative Ron Kirk suggested at his confirmation hearing that the administration might consider bringing to Congress a controversial Bush-negotiated free trade agreement (FTA) with Panama.

The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved amendments allowing the government to freeze accounts suspected by the United Nations of usage for terrorism or money laundering.

IT HAS been called the ugliest chapter in global economic affairs since slavery. And, as with slavery before abolition, it is so widely accepted that for years it has excited little or no comment.