NEW DELHI : President Pranab Mukherjee today asked Enforcement Directorate to achieve greater efficiency and cooperate with concerned international agencies to expedite steps to bring back “stolen assets spirited abroad”.
Mukherjee made this veiled reference to blackmoney during the second ‘Enforcement Day’ function organised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The function was attended by President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Vladimir Nechaev and Federal Office of Justice Swiss Confederation Mario Michel Affentranger among others.
“The Directorate should aim to work out modalities with international partners so that action with regard to restoration of stolen assets spirited abroad is expedited,” he said and asked it to interact with multilateral fora like FATF, the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG).
He said the cooperation needs to be optimally utilised by the ED for bilateral exchanges and follow up with counterpart enforcement agencies for better mutual cooperation on Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
He also called for an international cooperation to tackle cross-border money laundering and terror financing so that a more “business friendly” legitimate investments flow into the country.
“Effective measures against Money Laundering and Terror Financing are essential in today’s global economic and security environment, and these are rightly being addressed on priority by most countries.
“Such measures also foster a more business friendly setting and facilitate legitimate investments and financial flows,” the President said at the function which was also attended by Revenue Secretary Rajeev Takru.
The President said India too has put in place a strong Anti Money Laundering legislation, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to counter the menace.
“I also had the privilege of introducing in Parliament the Amendment Bill 2011 of the PMLA, through which, our nation strengthened the money laundering legislation, in line with the Recommendations of FATF,” Mukherjee said while recalling his days as the Union Finance Minister.
He drew attention about the presence of Affentranger and said it underlines the growing bilateral cooperation on law enforcement matters between Switzerland and India, as also the partnership between the counterpart agencies.
“Money laundering is a global menace, and law enforcement agencies of all countries have to cooperate to fight it,” he said.
India has been pressing Switzerland to give details of some Indians having money in the banks in that country but the Swiss authorities maintain they would be furnishing details of cases only after 2012 when Direct Tax Avoidance Treaty came into effect.
The President said the Enforcement Directorate has a historical role in orderly development and maintenance of the foreign exchange market which is essential for economic activities to be in accordance with the legal framework and national priorities.
“The Directorate should continue to ensure that the external trade is facilitated, and investment environment is stimulated by sifting the genuine foreign exchange transactions from those which are fraudulent and undesirable,” he said and lauded the efforts of the organisation in attaching properties of several accused.
These assets will finally vest to the Government only after the due legal process is completed. During this period, Directorate should concentrate on working out and implementing protocols for safeguarding these assets, while the legal processes for their confiscation continue, said Mukherjee.
The President asked the ED to develop expertise in financial investigations and detection of cross border flows.
“The process of globalisation and rapid advances in information and communications technology has shrunk the world. Money can nowadays move very quickly across national borders. To stay ahead of the curve, the Directorate should develop expertise in financial investigations and detection of cross border flows.
“The Directorate should also look at adopting state of the art technology in relevant areas such as communications, technical infrastructure and computer forensics,” he said.
Citing sensitive work being done by it, he asked the ED officials to perform their duty with utmost efficiency and integrity.
“I urge the Directorate to rededicate itself to the fulfilment of its mandate, to achieve greater efficiency, to impartially investigate and bring to book money launderers and economic offenders, and to do so in a time-bound manner,” the President added. AGENCIES)
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