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According to global anti-graft watchdog Transparency International, India should endorse the United Nations Convention Against Corruption for the recovery of India’s wealth which has be hoarded in foreign banks.
"It is absolutely imperative to sign the UNCAC to get our money stashed in foreign banks," said Admiral (retd) R.H. Tahiliani, the head of Transparency International India chapter before the Doha meeting where the nations who have signed the UNCAC will review the endorsement of the same.
Adopted by UN in 2003, UNCAC has ranked India at 85 in the corrupt countries list. Even though India had signed the UNCAC, it has still not endorsed it.
The UNCAC provides recovery of assets as the 'fundamental principle' of the convention. The provisions on asset recovery lay a framework, in both civil and criminal law, for tracing, freezing, forfeiting and returning funds obtained through corrupt activities. The states who request for the asset recovery will be able to recover the assets only if they are able to prove the ownership. Once the act is endorsed, the nation will be made eligible for the prevention, criminalisation and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, technical assistance and information exchange, and mechanisms for endorsement of the UNCAC.
According to Tahiliani, this fundamental principle is major trigger for the ratification and signing of the UNCAC by the nations, along with "some vested interests in the government don't want the country to ratify the act."
Anupama Jha, the executive director of the Transparency International, India, said “Switzerland, Bahamas and Jamaica have already ratified the UN Act and if India ratifies it, we can use it as an instrument to get the details about Indian money stashed there".
It is estimated that Indian black money worth over $137 billion has been stashed away in tax havens abroad.
"Not ratifying the act doesn't show us in a good light. The government should ratify it to demonstrate its commitment to effectively fight corruption and get back the Indian tax payers' wealth hidden abroad," Jha told.
Out of the 140 countries that have signed the UNCAC, 120 have ratified it.
