New Delhi: Top officials at Swiss banks rubbish allegations that Indians have secretly stashed thousands of crores at the Swiss Banks.
This amid claims from various quarters that black money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks exceeds $1 trillion.
A top official at the Swiss Bankers Association dubbed these claims as 'myth' and said that no such statistics exist.
The official also said that the association never published any report claiming that Indians were at the top of the investors' list.
This comes at a time when Indian Government is under pressure from the opposition BJP and demanding that Swiss Banks reveal data of Indian black money deposited with it.
In August this year, the Swiss government had snubbed India saying they could not come on 'fishing expeditions' to Switzerland.
"Swiss law and even OECD's Model Tax Convention do not permit fishing expeditions, in other words, the indiscriminate trawling through bank accounts in the hope of finding something interesting,” a top official at Swiss Bankers Association told PTI from Basel.
"This means that India cannot simply throw its telephone book at Switzerland and ask if any of these people have a bank account here," he added.
The secrecy shield provided by Swiss banks have always been a big issue in India, including during the campaign for this year's General Elections, and the Government recently said that it has approached Switzerland seeking details about bank accounts held by Indians there.
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