India will press Switzerland to break its bank secrecy code to stop pilferage of black money at a 2-day conference of the affluent donor nations beginning here on Wednesday.

It will prod the Swiss representatives on the commitment they made in the G-20 meeting in 2009 to end bank secrecy and to enter into effective Tax Information Exchange Agreements with every country.

The conference organised in association with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to build a multi-disciplinary framework to combat corruption in India and other Asia-Pacific countries.

Experts from the 28 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, of which Switzerland is a founding member, will add weight to the on-going chorus against corruption and leakage of funds meant for development that plagues not only India but many developing countries.

Officials here say apart from the bid to bring Switzerland on board to unearth the black money hoarded in its banks, negotiations were on with many other countries to obtain the banking information. India has been able to negotiate a number of new Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with focus on countries like Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar and Monaco.

"Government of India has also signed an amendment to the tax treaty with Switzerland and the Swiss Parliament has accorded its approval to the treaty recently, which allows India to obtain banking information from Switzerland in specific cases for the period starting from 1st April, 2011," they said.

The 2-day conference to be inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil will deliberate to strengthen the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and other OECD instruments.

"These instruments address the problem from every angle – prevention in the public and private sectors, detection and law enforcement," say the organisers. They say the conference will help governments, businesses and citizens in Asia-Pacific to find holistic approaches to the corruption problem.

Some of the main features of an effective multidisciplinary anti-corruption framework include: 1) international cooperation in multi-jurisdictional corruption investigations; 2) measures to prevent and detect corruption in public procurement; 3) corporate compliance, internal controls and ethics measures to fight corruption; and 4) strong citizen contributions to these frameworks.

The conference will further delve into more specialized areas of interest, such as effective international information-sharing in investigations; public procurement in high risk sectors; features of an effective corporate compliance programme; and strengthening citizens’ participation to increase integrity and transparency in government.

The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention has also put a mechanism to prevent, detect and seek prosecution and penalties against those involved in corruption.

The conference will be preceded by the steering group meeting of the ADB/OECD anti-corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific. The steering group will discuss and adopt the Initiative’s Strategy and Work Programme 2012-2014, and agree on the initiative’s specific activities for 2012.