Fight risk


Fight risk
Nayem Islam attique
Prime Minister Monmahon Singh is a harassed man today. Despite his impeccable honesty and integrity of which there are few parallels in today’s South Asian politics-his government has now been coming under increasing attack from not only the opposition parties but also the Supreme Court of the land. The allegations of rampant corruption involving some of his ministerial colleagues in addition to his manifest inability to make any headway with regard to the huge amount of black money lying hidden in the Swiss banks and tax heavens have raised a fundamental question about his style of governance in less than two years of the UPS’s second regime honest personally? Or is it not also his duty to punish and bring to book all those offenders who have been looting and plundering this country with impunity for years together? According to the Indian Supreme Court, the back money stashed away in foreign banks is not just a case of tax evasion, but a mind boggling crime amounting to theft and plunder of national wealth. The indictment of the highest Court taking keen interest in the case of corruption, the government is now left with no choice but to become proactive in their efforts to recover the enormous wealth hidden abroad. In their latest report called The drivers and dynamics of illicit Financial Flows from India 1948-2008 the US think tank Global Financial integrity estimates that tax evasion, crime and corruption have moved gross illicit assets worth US$462 billion. The report also notes that the faster rate of economic growth since economic reform started in 1991 led to a deterioration of income distribution, which led to more flows from the country. Moreover, the poor state of governance reflected in a growing under ground economy which in turn has fuelled more transfers of illicit capital from India. The analysis is caste in terms of a pre and a post reform period spanning a total of 61 years since independence. More than anything else, the report clearly demonstrates that these illicit out flows contribute to the stagnating levels of poverty and ever widening gave between India
‘s rich and poor. The primary report findings include (a) from 1948 through 2008, India lost a total of $213 billion in illegal capital flight. These flows were generally the product of tax evasion, corruption bribery, kick backs and criminal activities (B) the present value of the flows is at least US $462 billion. This is based on the short term US Treasury bill rate as a proxy for the rate of return on assets. (C) India‘s aggregate illicit flows are more than the twice the current external debt of the US, $ 230 billion.