Switzerland has offered legal support to India

Switzerland has offered legal support to India in the case of a high-profile married couple suspected of evading taxes by hiding money in a HSBC bank account in Geneva.

The Swiss tax authorities said on Tuesday that they were offering legal co-operation regarding Subhash Vasant Sathe, the son of a former Indian minister, and Sathe’s wife, Indrani Vasant. The pair make their money in the car industry.

Reports in the Indian media claim the Indian tax authorities have accused the couple of hiding $700,000 (CHF669,963) with the HSBC bank in Geneva.

India received data from France that had been stolen from HSBC, and some of this information was also made public in the press.

For this reason, India has made numerous requests to Switzerland for legal assistance to reclaim money that has been kept secret from the Indian authorities.

Switzerland generally does not offer to co-operate with countries on a legal basis regarding stolen bank data, but assesses each case individually. Legal assistance is only possible in this circumstance, when a case is not based exclusively on illegally obtained information.

swissinfo.ch and agencies