No free run for economic offenders

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In a far-reaching decision that might close the dragnet on economic offenders swiftly through multi-pronged action by investigative agencies, the government is working on a plan to use an alpha-numeric code for both companies and individuals, The Times of India has reported. It will be known as a Unique Economic Offender Code.

Once implemented it might label individuals such as Vijay Mallya or Nirav Modi with such codes. While errant companies will be tagged with a code that would be linked with their PAN, the code for individuals will be linked to their Aadhaar, the report said.

The step that is almost like that of slapping a number on a jailbird is part of a bigger nationwide architecture for efficient investigation and prosecution of economic offences. The Centre is putting together a National Economic Offences Records that will be a database of all economic offenders, both companies and individuals.

Once it is up and running, all information and data pertaining to economic offences at the state and federal-level will be fed into this repository.

The aim of this project is to enable all economic law enforcing agencies to simultaneously start investigating and share information of such offenders and overcome the limitations of the present system which demands that one agency can handover information to another only after it has completed its work and filed the chargesheet. This practice often leads to tardy investigation.

The new initiative would allow free flow of information by all Union and state-level investigative agencies. Incidentally, the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau has already put together a database of 2.5 lakh economic offenders.

With economic offences frequently obliterating geographical and political boundaries and the funds siphoned out of one country being regularly employed in another for subversive activities, the move seems to be a part of an international plan to rein in economic offences such as money laundering.

An intergovernmental team from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force is expected to visit India in a few months to have a look at the progress of the architecture. This task force is engaged in maintaining vigil over money laundering and terrorist financing.

The project might cost around Rs 40 crore and might be ready in the next five months or so.