Investigations into several major financial crimes have hit a roadblock with law enforcement authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore reluctant to share information with India, prompting some members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money to suggest that a high-level delegation visit these countries.
The suggestion follows the positive response on other important black-money cases that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj received earlier this month from the Mauritius Government that conveyed its readiness to assist the SIT.
Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das and the then Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman K.V. Chowdary received the same response when they visited Switzerland on a similar mission last month.
Indian enforcement agencies have, in the past, raised the issue of non/partial execution of letters rogatory (LRs) -- judicial requests seeking information from foreign law enforcement agencies in particular cases -- but to no avail. This, the CBI has submitted to the SIT, has hampered efforts to bring back illegal money stashed abroad and prosecute defaulters.
Currently, there are nearly three dozen LRs pending with the enforcement agencies in the UAE and Singapore.
Investigations in important cases – including Hasan Ali, Madhu Koda, 2G, Satyam, Indian Premier League and City Limouzine cases --- where the money trail has led the agencies to the UAE – have, therefore, seen little progress. In the last two years, even personal interventions by Indian Ambassadors to get information from the UAE failed to cut ice. In Singapore, too, where 20-odd LRs including those pertaining to 2G Spectrum and the Tatra truck deal cases are pending, the CBI has again sought the Indian High Commission’s intervention. The pending LR issue was also raised at a meeting between Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on the sidelines of the Interpol Ministerial Conference in Monaco earlier this month.
“Although they have been giving assurances of full cooperation, there still appears to be some reluctance in Singapore on sharing details in major cases,” said an official, pointing out that the money trail in the VVIP chopper deal case also leads to some accounts in Singapore.
Against this backdrop, some SIT members have proposed that high-level delegations, perhaps headed by Union Ministers, could visit the UAE and Singapore to facilitate the investigations.
Enforcement officials also added that the matter can be taken up at international forums such as the Financial Action Task Force and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. “FATF, which sets standards and promotes measures against financial crimes, has a specific provision making international cooperation mandatory for member countries. Non-adherence can lead to adverse consequences. The Egmont Group also has an information-sharing mechanism,” an official said.
