No ‘heir’ to a dozen defunct accounts of Indians in Swiss banks, not a single claim in six years

According to the data available with the Swiss authorities, no Indian heir has successfully claimed any of these accounts during the last six years. The claim period for some of these accounts will expire next month. READ MORE

There have been no contenders for nearly a dozen inactive accounts of Indians in Swiss banks. In such a situation, it is feared that the money lying in these accounts can be transferred to the Switzerland government.

The Swiss government began making public the details of inoperative accounts in 2015. Under this, the claimants of these accounts were required to provide the necessary proof to acquire the account funds.

Ten of these accounts are also of Indians. Some of these accounts relate to Indian residents and citizens of the British Raj era. According to the data available with the Swiss authorities, no Indian heir has successfully claimed any of these accounts during the last six years.

The claim period for some of these accounts will expire next month. Some other accounts can be claimed by the end of 2020. Interestingly, some of the accounts have been claimed to belong to Pakistani residents out of inactive accounts. Apart from this, accounts of residents of some other countries including Switzerland itself have also been claimed.

In December 2015, for the first time, such accounts were made public. There are about 2,600 accounts in the list of which 4.5 crore Swiss francs or about 300 crores is lying in the amount.

This amount has not been claimed since 1955. There were about 80 security deposit boxes when the list was first made public. Every year new accounts are being added to this list under Swiss Banking Law.

Now the number of accounts in this list has grown to around 3,500. Swiss bank accounts have been the subject of political debate in India for many years. Indians are believed to keep their unaccounted money in Swiss banks. There have also been doubts that funds were kept in Switzerland’s bank accounts on behalf of the erstwhile princely states.

Switzerland has opened its banking system for regulatory scrutiny due to global pressure in recent years.

At the same time, Switzerland has also entered into agreements with various countries including India for automatic exchange of information on financial matters. India has recently got the first list of accounts of Indians in Switzerland-based financial institutions under the system of automatic exchange of information. A second list will be found in September 2020. Meanwhile, claims for inactive accounts are being managed by the Swiss Banking Ombudsman in collaboration with the Swiss Bankers Association.

According to the available details, the inactive accounts associated with Indians include at least two persons from Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), one from Dehradun, two predecessors were known as Bombay (now) Mumbai. ) And some Indians also settled in France and Britain.

Will these Indians’ money deposited in Swiss bank be drowned? The transfer can be done to local government

There have been no contenders for the past several years for a dozen inactive Swiss bank accounts involving Indian citizens. In such a situation, the money deposited in these accounts is in danger of being transferred to the Switzerland government. The Swiss government began making public accounts of dormant accounts public in 2015, to allow their claimants to submit the evidence necessary to pass on the money to them, including about a dozen accounts linked to Indians. This included some accounts of Indian residents and citizens since the British rule, but the problem is that according to records available with the Swiss authorities, inactive accounts linked to not a single Indian have been successfully claimed in the last six years. The period for submitting details of some of these account holders is for the next month and the rest for December next year.

Incidentally, some accounts involving residents of Pakistan have been claimed. Similarly, many other accounts involving residents of other countries have also been claimed. According to the available details, the inactive accounts associated with Indians include at least two persons from Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), one from Dehradun, two predecessors known as Bombay (now) Mumbai. ) And some Indians also settled in France and Britain. Other inactive account holders include the names of Chandralata Pranlal Patel, Mohan Lal, Kishore Lal, Rosemary Burnett, Pierre Vachek, Chandra Bahadur Singh, Yogesh Prabhudas Soukah.

According to Swiss rules, if there is no contact with the account holders for 60 years, they are declared inactive. In addition, claims are invited in the accounts if the amount is more than 500 Swiss francs. After the inactive account information is made public, 1 to 5 years are given time to present the claim. After this, if no one presents a claim, then the government takes all the account money.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.