NEW DELHI: In a boost to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Government today sanctioned a special monetary allowance for it, akin to what is granted to the investigators and employees of the premier probe agency – the CBI.
The Union Finance Ministry issued an order granting a ‘special incentive allowance’ at the rate of 20 per cent of the basic pay, on par with the CBI, to the officers and staffers of the ED.
The order, accessed was issued today.
ED Director Karnal Singh had last year written to the ministry seeking the special grant for the agency, given the task rendered by its sleuths of investigating some of the most complex and high-profile economic fraud and black money cases.
The special incentive will not only act as a motivation for ED officers to work hard, a senior officer said, it will also attract good talent from other organisations who send their personnel on deputation to the agency.
The ED is working shoulder-to-shoulder with other probe agencies such as the CBI, the Income Tax Department and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to investigate cases of financial crimes like those against designer diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, liquor baron Vijay Mallya and the VVIP choppers deal case.
The agency is tasked with enforcing two major laws – the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) – in the country. (AGENCIES)
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