The other day, in a hotel where I eat at times, couple of staff were in an animated discussion about the money stashed away by Indians in Swiss Bank and how it could be used to facilitate growth. They got around to ask me whether I thought it was feasible for India to recover the money.
My answer was an emphatic 'NO', much to their disappointment.
I said 'no' not because there is hardly any political will to recover this money, as every single damn politician has stashed away the money, as well as businessmen and these guys will never lift a finger to recover $ 1 in the foreseeable future. You just have to recall how Qutrochi was saved by Congress to unfreeze his bank accounts containing bribes paid by Bofors.
The other reason is that procedurally it is next to impossible to recover the money stashed abroad. The Swiss Banks are governed by the law of the land. Though they could be forced to reveal the Bank Account details, asking them to return the money to Indian government is just not possible, because you need to prove legally that a finanical crime has been committed, and the money stashed in an account is indeed sleaze money that belongs to the people of India. You need to do this for each transaction in each account. This is not even an herculean task, it is an impossible task. We cant get a Quottrochi extradited or a Warren Anderson brought to justice despite strong cases against them. How do you expect us to then conduct an investigation (we do not have the skill sets to investigate white collar crimes), establish a case and then conduct the trial to get a favourable judgement?
So, while the topic on money stashed away in Swiss Banks makes for good drawing room discussions, it will remain just that - a topic for discussion.
