Maharashtra's Sangli royals under scanner for Swiss bank accounts

India's probe into Swiss bank accounts held by its citizens has taken a ''royal'' turn with Indian authorities approaching Switzerland's tax department for details about two members of ruling family of erstwhile princely state of Sangli, w in Maharashtra. Following India's request for "administrative assistance" in this matter, Federal Tax Administration of Switzerland has issued a public tice asking royal couple -- Vijaysingh Madhavrao Patwardhan and Rohini Vijaysingh Patwardhan -- to appoint ir minees to deal with this matter and file ir objections, if any, against sharing of information. Interestingly, Patwardhans are parents of yesteryear Bollywood actress Bhagyashree.

Patwardhans asked to appoint minees

Typically, this is first step towards sharing of information by Swiss authorities with requesting jurisdiction under Switzerland's regulations about sharing of financial information in tax matters. In two separate but identical tices dated vember 19 and published in Switzerland's latest federal gazette in Berne, Patwardhans have been asked to appoint ir minees within 10 days. tices did t disclose any furr details, besides ir names and dates of birth (August 24, 1942, for Vijaysingh Patwardhan and October 27, 1950, for his wife Rohini). Repeated attempts to contact family did t elicit any response, while queries sent to registered e-mail ID of a company where two Patwardhans are listed as directors also remained unanswered.

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About company

company, Mangalmurti Investment and Exports Private Limited, is registered with Mumbai Registrar of Companies (RoC), with ''Sangli Villa'' in Mumbai as its registered address. Vijay Singh and Rohini Patwardhan are listed as only two directors of company, while RoC records show its status as ''active'', last AGM date as September 30, 2019, and date of last balance sheet as of March 31, 2019. company, which has an authorised capital of Rs 15 lakh, was incorporated on April 25, 1979, which is also date since when Patwardhans have been its directors.

According to various accounts, Vijaysingh Patwardhan became last king of Sangli after death of his grandfar in 1965, but he had developed a keen interest in business early in his and also dabbled in film music composition for some time. He is credited with setting up educational, medical and or facilities for people of Sangli over years. One of his daughters, Bhagyashree, became an overnight star after her debut lead role in superhit Hindi movie ''Maine Pyar Kiya'' in 1989.

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While an automatic exchange of information on financial matters has already come into force between India and Switzerland and first such exchange took place in September this year, Swiss authorities have been issuing such tices regularly to Indian residents having accounts in Switzerland-based banks on receipt of requests accompanied with prima facie evidence of financial wrongdoings, including stashing of suspected illicit funds.

Several tices are being issued

A large number of such tices have been issued in recent months, including against people already facing black money probe back in India. Once such tice was recently issued to Gautam Khaitan, an accused in AgustaWestland chopper scam case. While Swiss bank accounts have been a matter of heated political debate for many years in India due to suspicion that y were being used to hoard black money, it has also been suspected that people linked to erstwhile princely states had stashed some funds in banks in Switzerland.

Swiss government has also been making details of dormant accounts public since 2015 to allow ir claimants to submit necessary proof to get access to those funds, which included at least 10 accounts linked to Indians. se included some accounts linked to Indian residents and nationals from British rule era. However, t a single dormant account linked to an Indian has been successfully claimed in last six years, as per records available with Swiss authorities. list included close to 2,600 dormant accounts when it was first made public in December 2015, which had around 45 million Swiss francs (over Rs 300 crore) lying unclaimed since at least 1955. re were also nearly 80 unclaimed safety deposit boxes when list was first made public for claims from real owners or ir heirs.

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More accounts are being added every year since n after y become dormant under Swiss banking laws. list w includes nearly 3,500 accounts. Generally, deadline for submitting requests is one year from date of such dormant accounts being made public, but a larger time-frame of five years has been given for accounts that had last customer contact in 1954 or earlier. claims can be submitted by original account owner as also by his or her legal heirs. If request is received within deadline, or if bank finds claims unjustified, bank needs to hand over assets to Federal Finance Administration of Switzerland, thus making all rights of former customers null and void.

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