The Indian government has received sensitive information from its German counterpart regarding tax evaders, who have channeled money through a bank in Liechtenstein, and it is unwilling to make these details public, according to the Business Standard (of India).

It is not yet known whether the information exchanged between the two countries contain details of account holders from India, the publication said.

The possibility of involvement by Indian nationals is the latest twist in the saga surrounding accounts of wealthy individuals that have been held by LGT in the tiny Alpine state.

In February this year, a former employee of LGT Bank in Liechtenstein sold data on about 1,400 people to tax authorities across the world. This was followed by investigations by Germany, the US, the UK, Australia, Italy and others. After receiving the stolen data, the German government initiated action against around 600 taxpayers for possible tax evasion. It has reportedly offered to provide data to any country that seeks information.

India’s finance ministry wrote its first letter to German authorities in February 2008 seeking information on Indian account holders and followed it up with another letter in June 2008, the government disclosed in a reply to a Right to Information application filed by the Indian-chapter of Transparency International, a organisation and lobby group focusing on issues such as corruption and governance.