Context :
Data
repository on white collar crime to aid agencies
THE WEB-BASED DATABASE WILL INTEGRATE DATA OF
FINANCIAL CRIMES PROBED BY INTELLIGENCE AND PROBE AGENCIES
·
Hindustan Times (Lucknow)
·
10 Apr 2023
·
Neeraj Chauhan letters@hindustantimes.com
Extract :
The
Centre will by end of May roll out a new data repository called
the National Economic Offence Records,
which will provide real-time
information on white-collar crime and criminals to law enforcement and
intelligence agencies.
The
web-based database will
integrate data of all key financial crimes investigated by intelligence and
probe agencies including the CBI, the ED, the income-tax department,
Directorate of Revenue and Intelliof gence, Serious Fraud Investigation Office,
GST Intelligence, Customs, etc., for better coordination and quick
dissemination information,
officials said
“Created on the lines of National Crime
Records Bureau, which collates and analyses data related to all crimes across
the country, the NEOR will focus only on
financial crimes,” an official said, seeking anonymity.
The
repository was envisaged in 2019 by the Central Economic Intelligence
Bureau, the nodal agency on economic intelligence under the finance ministry,
but it could not take off due to the pandemic.
The
CEIB currently maintains the National
Economic Intelligence Network (NEIN) database, which consists of dossiers and offences of
economic offenders and suspected tax evaders based on inputs received from law
enforcement agencies.
It
has more than 8,680 dossiers and details of 202,526 offences as on November 2021.
The
NEOR will be different from NEIN as it
can be accessed by all
economic offences’ probe
officers anywhere in the country; they would also be able to update their findings in realtime,
officials said.
Besides,
all studies and analyses related to hawala (informal cross-border transfer of funds),
modus operandi such as tradebased money laundering, use of businesses to
transfer funds to terror organisations, tax havens across the world and
diversion of income and corporate frauds will be maintained in the system, he
said.
“A centralised repository is a much-needed reform, which will
significantly help prosecutorial efforts, and hopefully cut down investigation time by making
available data that normally would take several months to obtain,” said Sherbir Panag, an expert on
white-collar crime and founder of Panag & Babu, a law firm.
“At
the same time, the rights of accused persons must be protected, and
investigations must not be prejudiced merely on account of FIRs,” Panag added.
MY
TAKE ( 17 emails to our Cabinet Ministers ) :
2014 (
1 ) :
Ø E - Governance ? …………………………… 03 April 2014
2016
( 4 ) :
Ø A Half-hearted Measure ? …………………..
07 Mar 2016
Break-down the Silos ! …………………………. 16
Sept 2017
2018 ( 2 ) :
Ø CyberCrimes / DigitalIndia / e-Governance …
09 Jan 2018
Ø Blame Game Continues…………………………….09 Apr 2018
2022
( 5 )
Ø An Umbrella Body ? A Distant Echo ? …
………..01 Apr 2022
Ø DATA is better than Third Degree …………………
25 Apr 2022
Ø Welcome NATGRID : Thank You, Shri Amitbhai Shah ..
04 May 2022
Ø ED says : No ED ( Escape of Data ) ……………….
28 Nov 2022
2023 ( 2 ) :
Ø One Stop Shop for White Collar Criminals …… 11 Apr 2023
Ø NEOR :
as envisaged………………………… ……………..15 May 2023
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.hemenparekh.ai / 30 July 2023