The government earlier this year obtained a list of names of account holders including prominent corporate and political leaders, film stars and diamonds traders, which is now being investigated in a bid to flush out tax evaders, according to a report in The Economic Times.

The information reportedly contains account numbers, names and addresses as given in the passports of the holders.


“The accounts relate to an old case which occurred between 2006 and 2007 when our Swiss bank was a victim of criminal data theft by a former employee. Only Swiss-based accounts were affected,” said a spokesperson for HSBC Private Bank. Apart from this, HSBC Private Bank declined to comment on customer or government inquiries.

A source close to the situation said that the bank had not been approached by the Indian government to freeze accounts.

The Indian government was handed the details of the accounts by the French government last year, which received the information from a former employee of HSBC, Herve Falciani. Falciani is alleged to have stolen details on an estimated 80,000 account holders of various nationalities while working within the bank’s IT department and subsequently fled to France to escape the attentions of Swiss investigators. Around 6,600 names are believed to be UK-based, 7,000 from Italy while 1,500 are believed to be Spanish residents.

Other governments including Italy, Germany, the UK, Switzerland and France have launched similar probes to India’s, showing how determined many western states are to chase after alleged tax evaders and replenish their indebted coffers.

The Indian government last month signed a double taxation treaty with Switzerland but the agreement applies with prospective effect, from April 1, 2012.