Reacting to reports that Leader of Opposition LK Advani has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to accept the German offer for sharing the details, Chidambaram said, "I am surprised to see these news. On May 16, I had written to Advani. I informed him that in February, when we first came to know about the German offer, we immediately responded."
Chidambaram said the finance ministry got in touch with the tax department of Germany and asked it to give detailed information on secret accounts run by many Indians in Liechtenstein to evade domestic taxes. However, the German authorities have written back saying they need some more time to share India-specific information.
"They said they will give us the information we require. We are following up the issue with them," Chidambaram said.
