It is common knowledge that certain professions offer lucrative opportunities for criminal acts and unethical practices which hardly attract public attention. There have been croocks and unethical persons in business, professions and even in public. They tend to become unscruplous because of their neglect at school, home and other social institutions where people get training for citizenship and character building. These deviants have scant regard for honesty and other ethical values. Therefore they carry on their illegal activities with impunity without the fear of loss of prestige or status. These crimes are essentially an outcome of competitive economy.
The anti social activities of persons of the upper strata in their occupations, which have come to be known as white collar crimes have been given their due importance in the recent past only after the pioneering work done by Prof. Edwin H Sutherland in the area of great contemporary concern. The favourable treatment to these crimes is due to the reasons which includes the belongingness of judges, legislators and commission members to the same social class to which white collar criminals belong; the trend if not of publishing these offenders; unorganised and ineffective resentment of exploitation by white collar criminals and last but not the least is the newspapers which can publicise white collar criminals are controlled by the business men. The opposition is weak because the channels through which they operate are devious and injuries caused by such offences are diffused amongst the masses.
White collar crime is a social reality. The irreparable loss to the society in general although not realised immediately must be viewed seriously. Those in government jobs while committing embezzlement of government's money cause grave loss to the society at the burden of the honest tax payers leading to the failure of national economy. The more society is advancing, the more white collar crimes are increasing.
Some of the professions involving technical expertise and skills provide sufficient opportunities for white collar criminals. They include medical profession, engineering, legal practise, private educationsl institutions etc. The persons belonging to the medical profession includes white collar crimes in the form of issuance of false medical certificates, helping illegal abortions, secret service to dacoits by giving expert opinion leading to their acquittal and selling sample drugs and medicines to the patients and chemists. a simple question in my mind creeps IS HUMAN LIFE THAT CHEAP??? Underhand dealings with contractors and suppliers, passing of sub standard works and materials and maintenance of bogus records of work charged labour are some of the good examples of wite collar crimes in the engineering sector.
In India the lawyer's profession is also not exempted from such crimes. The deteriorating standards of legal education and unethical practices resorted to by the members of legal profession to procure clientage are mainly responsible for the degradation of this profession which was once considered to be one of the noblest vocations. As far as legal profession is concerned, there is a definite copde of conduct for the professionals and i am feeling proud to state that this is not a mere ornamental document. In India judicial attitude towards the white collar criminals is not mild as compared to the crimes involving voilence. the name of Justice Krishna Iyer deserves to be mentioned who is sympathetic in his judgements to the offenders of voilence but not to the white collar criminals. The latest developments in the IT sector and electronic media have given rise to new variety of computer related white collar crimes ofently called as cyber crimes. Pheakering, internet frauds, hackers, stalking, email security invasion, money laundering and the list is huge....
Not everything is new, but definitely its an ALARMING SITUATION......
Ramakant Gaur
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Money Laundering - An overview
Criminal enterprises today supports a huge global economy, with a gross domestic product estimated at as high as five percent of world GDP. The World Bank puts the proceeds of crime, in recent years, at US$800 billion to US$1 trillion annually a degree of economic leverage trumped by only a few of the world's most developed nations. Money laundering is the process by which large amounts of illegally obtained money (from drug trafficking, terrorist activity or other serious crimes) is given the appearance of having originated from a legitimate source.
Money laundering at its very essence is not a single act but is in fact a process that is accomplished in three basic steps. These steps can be taken at the same time in the course of a single transaction, but they can also appear in well separable forms one by one as well. The steps are:- Placement; Layering; and Integration. Owning a bank is a classic means to launder huge sums of money. In Russia and some East European States, banks can be readily purchased for very little money- though few of them have electronic banking access to SWIFT
The ravages of transnational crime are apparent everywhere terror, addictive and debilitating drugs, the ubiquity of combat rifles and handguns, political corruption, smuggling, tax evasion, trading in women and children, counterfeiting of goods and currency, and much more. Money laundering the methodology by which ill-gotten gains are legitimized is the visible link at which such crime can be most effectively attacked.
Using the Indian experience to particularize the issues, the investigations are being made w.r.t the forces that determine the various means of money laundering and its opposition in today's globalized world. Indian newspapers frequently report the money laundering scams perpetrated by the Political leaders and some of the prominent stars are the chief ministers of UP, Punjab and Kerala. UP chief minister Ms. Mayawati as per the Indian Express reports used some innovative techniques to launder the money by avoiding the tax in legitimate manner. She accepted the donations from persons who were road side heroes. When CBI raided these guys were found in no position to donate huge sums for political motives.
Thus money launderers are acting as vicious sources to launder their dirt and present it as the brain storming exercises for the judiciary and the legal experts.
Ramakant Gaur.
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
Money laundering at its very essence is not a single act but is in fact a process that is accomplished in three basic steps. These steps can be taken at the same time in the course of a single transaction, but they can also appear in well separable forms one by one as well. The steps are:- Placement; Layering; and Integration. Owning a bank is a classic means to launder huge sums of money. In Russia and some East European States, banks can be readily purchased for very little money- though few of them have electronic banking access to SWIFT
The ravages of transnational crime are apparent everywhere terror, addictive and debilitating drugs, the ubiquity of combat rifles and handguns, political corruption, smuggling, tax evasion, trading in women and children, counterfeiting of goods and currency, and much more. Money laundering the methodology by which ill-gotten gains are legitimized is the visible link at which such crime can be most effectively attacked.
Using the Indian experience to particularize the issues, the investigations are being made w.r.t the forces that determine the various means of money laundering and its opposition in today's globalized world. Indian newspapers frequently report the money laundering scams perpetrated by the Political leaders and some of the prominent stars are the chief ministers of UP, Punjab and Kerala. UP chief minister Ms. Mayawati as per the Indian Express reports used some innovative techniques to launder the money by avoiding the tax in legitimate manner. She accepted the donations from persons who were road side heroes. When CBI raided these guys were found in no position to donate huge sums for political motives.
Thus money launderers are acting as vicious sources to launder their dirt and present it as the brain storming exercises for the judiciary and the legal experts.
Ramakant Gaur.
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
Arrest in Central Excise Cases.
It is easy to give power, but it is difficult to give wisdom
(to exercise the power properly)
--- EDMUND BURK
YES, a very wise saying. Human beings are the rational beings. By virtue of their being human possess them with certain inalienable rights of immense significance often called as human or basic or inherent or natural rights. Name cannot change their significance, so to me, they are BIRTH RIGHTS. Rights being IMMUNITIES denote that there is a guarantee that certain things cannot or ought not to be done to a person against his will. To me, human rights should not be exercised in lieu of public liberty / prosperity. FAIR ENOUGH !!! Judicial powers must be exercised against the violators of law or the crime committers.
I can’t refrain myself to speak on Arrest. Arrest results in deprivation of the liberty of the person arrested. With the time immemorial economic offences are on rise. Central Excise Act empowers an officer not below the rank of Inspector of Central Excise with the prior approval of the Commissioner of Central Excise, to arrest any person who he has reason to believe to be liable to punishment. But officers in exercising their powers forget their humanity. Just to raise the department’s standard and to prove their pocket full of criminals, they illegally detain innocent people in their custody. Are they not individuals of Independent Democratic nation? Or is it an appropriate time to teach them the legal norms, the norms of PROFESSIONAL ETHICS? The question remains unanswered. The central excise officials detain people in their custody and the arrestees are forced to give wrong statements. They are treated inhumanly by the officials in the cells. I cannot stop myself to bring it to the knowledge of those officials, the evidentiary value of retracted and corroborated confessions under section 24 of the Indian evidence act. In Vinod Solanki vs. Union of India and another 2008 Indlaw SC 2011, Division Bench of Hon’ble Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Cyriac Joseph spoke on the effect of retracted confession. It was held that if the facts and circumstances emerging from the evidence adduced make it reasonably probable that the confession could be the result of threat, inducement or pressure, the court will refrain from acting on such confession, even if it be a confession made to a Magistrate or a person other than police officer.
The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“the Code”), which provides a mechanism for enforcement of Criminal Law, contains a number of safeguards in the case of ‘arrest’ of the individual. It is pertinent to observe that the Code provides for arrest only in certain situations and not as a general rule. Under the Code, arrest can be made for securing the attendance of the accused at the trial (Section 4(1), CrPC); or as preventive or precautionary measure so as to prevent the accused from committing the crime (Section 151 CrPC); or for obtaining correct name and address of a person (Section 42 CrPC) under certain circumstances (if a person, in the presence of a Police Officer, has committed or has been accused of committing a on cognizable offence; or for removing obstruction to the police when such a person obstructs a Police Officer in the execution of his duty (Section 41(1)(e) CrPC); or for retaking a person escaped from the custody. It is needless to say that if an arrest is made outside the situations mentioned in the Code, such an arrest would be illegal. Joginder Kumar vs. State of UP AIR 1994 SC 1349: 1994 CrLJ 1981 is a case showing the judicial dicta on the procedural safeguards in the case of arrest being held by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by a three Judges Bench.
The Supreme Court has time and again voiced its concern regarding complaints of the violations of human rights during and after the arrest. “The law of arrest is one of balancing individual rights, liberties and privileges on one hand, and individual duties, obligations and responsibilities on the other; of weighing and balancing the rights, liberties and privileges of the single individual and those of individuals collectively; of simply deciding what is wanted and where to put the weight and emphasis; of dividing which comes first – the criminal or society, the law violator or the law abider…….” (1994 CrLJ 1981 at pp. 1983 – 1984) Paras 8 and 9.
In D.K.Basu vs. State of West Bengal 1997 CrLJ 743 : AIR 1997 SC 610- is a landmark case in speaking about the preventive measures in the form of guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in all cases of arrest or detention till legal provisions are made. The guidelines proved to be a catalyst. The economic offences took place in the year 2008 – 2009 includes some of the major up fold of the civilized society. May it be Satyam Case which was handed over to CBI in February 17, 2009 , or case registered against Ramalinga Raju by the CBI on February 22, 2009. The Satyam fraud was the most highlighted example of the economic offence in the year of 2009 and the inquiries regarding the benami share transactions and other bank entries were surrounded the chairperson of Satyam, but was he the only culprit? Were the excise officials at par with the system? I just want to be a silent spectator, because I know what the reality is. In May 2009, a case was registered against a business man alleging the conspiracy of Rs 71000 crore for tax evasion. What was the result? O.k !! if I say my point of view, I might be biased by coating my view point against the Excise Department! But could a statement given by the Prime Minister on August 27, 2009 which says that “The High Level Corruption should be pursued aggressively” be denied? Viney Kannodia’s arrest highlighted by all the leading news papers of Delhi is another example of intricacies of the excise officials.
What more can I quote, The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Superintendent of Central Excise posted at Sonepat (Haryana) on January 20, 2010 for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 1.5 lakh from the complainant for closing an excise case pending against him. The complainant, a CEO and Executive Director of a firm dealing in fabrication work, was issued a show cause notice by the Supdt., Central Excise, Sonepat charging that the firm is a manufacturing unit. The Supdt. Central Excise, Sonepat demanded a bribe of Rs.7.5 lakhs for closing the case. The complainant did not want to pay the bribe, and lodged a complaint with CBI. A trap was laid and the Supdt., Central Excise, who called the complainant to his residence at Dayanand Block, Shakarpur, Delhi alongwith the bribe amount was caught red handed while demanding and accepting the bribe amount of Rs.1.5 lakhs. Isn’t a shame? The integrity of the most responsible organ of the State is at Stake. Just one question from my side to general public: - Are only human rights activists and human welfare organizations responsible for safeguarding the rights of a civilized society?
Ramakant Gaur
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
(to exercise the power properly)
--- EDMUND BURK
YES, a very wise saying. Human beings are the rational beings. By virtue of their being human possess them with certain inalienable rights of immense significance often called as human or basic or inherent or natural rights. Name cannot change their significance, so to me, they are BIRTH RIGHTS. Rights being IMMUNITIES denote that there is a guarantee that certain things cannot or ought not to be done to a person against his will. To me, human rights should not be exercised in lieu of public liberty / prosperity. FAIR ENOUGH !!! Judicial powers must be exercised against the violators of law or the crime committers.
I can’t refrain myself to speak on Arrest. Arrest results in deprivation of the liberty of the person arrested. With the time immemorial economic offences are on rise. Central Excise Act empowers an officer not below the rank of Inspector of Central Excise with the prior approval of the Commissioner of Central Excise, to arrest any person who he has reason to believe to be liable to punishment. But officers in exercising their powers forget their humanity. Just to raise the department’s standard and to prove their pocket full of criminals, they illegally detain innocent people in their custody. Are they not individuals of Independent Democratic nation? Or is it an appropriate time to teach them the legal norms, the norms of PROFESSIONAL ETHICS? The question remains unanswered. The central excise officials detain people in their custody and the arrestees are forced to give wrong statements. They are treated inhumanly by the officials in the cells. I cannot stop myself to bring it to the knowledge of those officials, the evidentiary value of retracted and corroborated confessions under section 24 of the Indian evidence act. In Vinod Solanki vs. Union of India and another 2008 Indlaw SC 2011, Division Bench of Hon’ble Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Cyriac Joseph spoke on the effect of retracted confession. It was held that if the facts and circumstances emerging from the evidence adduced make it reasonably probable that the confession could be the result of threat, inducement or pressure, the court will refrain from acting on such confession, even if it be a confession made to a Magistrate or a person other than police officer.
The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“the Code”), which provides a mechanism for enforcement of Criminal Law, contains a number of safeguards in the case of ‘arrest’ of the individual. It is pertinent to observe that the Code provides for arrest only in certain situations and not as a general rule. Under the Code, arrest can be made for securing the attendance of the accused at the trial (Section 4(1), CrPC); or as preventive or precautionary measure so as to prevent the accused from committing the crime (Section 151 CrPC); or for obtaining correct name and address of a person (Section 42 CrPC) under certain circumstances (if a person, in the presence of a Police Officer, has committed or has been accused of committing a on cognizable offence; or for removing obstruction to the police when such a person obstructs a Police Officer in the execution of his duty (Section 41(1)(e) CrPC); or for retaking a person escaped from the custody. It is needless to say that if an arrest is made outside the situations mentioned in the Code, such an arrest would be illegal. Joginder Kumar vs. State of UP AIR 1994 SC 1349: 1994 CrLJ 1981 is a case showing the judicial dicta on the procedural safeguards in the case of arrest being held by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by a three Judges Bench.
The Supreme Court has time and again voiced its concern regarding complaints of the violations of human rights during and after the arrest. “The law of arrest is one of balancing individual rights, liberties and privileges on one hand, and individual duties, obligations and responsibilities on the other; of weighing and balancing the rights, liberties and privileges of the single individual and those of individuals collectively; of simply deciding what is wanted and where to put the weight and emphasis; of dividing which comes first – the criminal or society, the law violator or the law abider…….” (1994 CrLJ 1981 at pp. 1983 – 1984) Paras 8 and 9.
In D.K.Basu vs. State of West Bengal 1997 CrLJ 743 : AIR 1997 SC 610- is a landmark case in speaking about the preventive measures in the form of guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in all cases of arrest or detention till legal provisions are made. The guidelines proved to be a catalyst. The economic offences took place in the year 2008 – 2009 includes some of the major up fold of the civilized society. May it be Satyam Case which was handed over to CBI in February 17, 2009 , or case registered against Ramalinga Raju by the CBI on February 22, 2009. The Satyam fraud was the most highlighted example of the economic offence in the year of 2009 and the inquiries regarding the benami share transactions and other bank entries were surrounded the chairperson of Satyam, but was he the only culprit? Were the excise officials at par with the system? I just want to be a silent spectator, because I know what the reality is. In May 2009, a case was registered against a business man alleging the conspiracy of Rs 71000 crore for tax evasion. What was the result? O.k !! if I say my point of view, I might be biased by coating my view point against the Excise Department! But could a statement given by the Prime Minister on August 27, 2009 which says that “The High Level Corruption should be pursued aggressively” be denied? Viney Kannodia’s arrest highlighted by all the leading news papers of Delhi is another example of intricacies of the excise officials.
What more can I quote, The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Superintendent of Central Excise posted at Sonepat (Haryana) on January 20, 2010 for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 1.5 lakh from the complainant for closing an excise case pending against him. The complainant, a CEO and Executive Director of a firm dealing in fabrication work, was issued a show cause notice by the Supdt., Central Excise, Sonepat charging that the firm is a manufacturing unit. The Supdt. Central Excise, Sonepat demanded a bribe of Rs.7.5 lakhs for closing the case. The complainant did not want to pay the bribe, and lodged a complaint with CBI. A trap was laid and the Supdt., Central Excise, who called the complainant to his residence at Dayanand Block, Shakarpur, Delhi alongwith the bribe amount was caught red handed while demanding and accepting the bribe amount of Rs.1.5 lakhs. Isn’t a shame? The integrity of the most responsible organ of the State is at Stake. Just one question from my side to general public: - Are only human rights activists and human welfare organizations responsible for safeguarding the rights of a civilized society?
Ramakant Gaur
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
Right to Die and its Constitutional Validity.
"A living will provides clear and convincing evidence of one's wishes regarding end-of-life care"
Every person shall have the right to die with dignity; this right shall include the right to choose the time of one's death and to receive medical and pharmaceutical assistance to die painlessly. No physician, nurse or pharmacist shall be held criminally or civilly liable for assisting a person in the free exercise of this right.The Constitution of India provides a long list of fundamental rights under Part-III. Article 21( “Protection of Life and Personal Liberty) of our Constitution is one of the important fundamental rights among those rights.
Right to life means the right to lead meaningful, complete and dignified life. It does not have restricted meaning. The object of the fundamental right under Article 21 is to prevent any restriction by the State to a person upon his personal liberty and deprivation of life except according to procedure established by law.
Active voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should be legalized. Moral, religious, and ethical objections are ungrounded. The patient’s life should belong in his or her hands. Patients cannot be forced to live a life that is meaningless. According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary euthanasia is defined as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy” (401). Euthanasia is Greek meaning “good death.”
The question arises whether right to life under Article 21 includes right to die or not. This question came for consideration for first time before the High Court of Bombay in State of Maharashtra v. Maruti Sripati Dubal. In this case the Bombay High Court held that the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 includes right to die, and the hon’ble High Court struck down section 309 IPC which provides punishment for attempt to commit suicide by a person as unconstitutional. In P Rathinam v. Union of India a Division Bench of the Supreme Court supporting the decision of the High Court of Bombay in. Maruti Sripati Dubal case held that under Article 21 right to life also include right to die and laid section 309 of IPC unconstitutional.
The right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death bears the sanction of history and is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty. The right to refuse medical treatment and the right to abortion instructs that a mentally competent, terminally ill person has a protected liberty interest in choosing to end intolerable suffering by bringing about his or her own death. "Especially with regard to taking life, slippery slope arguments have long been a feature of the ethical landscape, used to question the moral permissibility of all kinds of acts... The situation is not unlike that of a doomsday cult that predicts time and again the end of the world, only for followers to discover the next day that things are pretty much as they were...We need the evidence that shows that horrible slope consequences are likely to occur. The mere possibility that such consequences might occur, as noted earlier, does not constitute such evidence."
Ramakant Gaur.
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
Every person shall have the right to die with dignity; this right shall include the right to choose the time of one's death and to receive medical and pharmaceutical assistance to die painlessly. No physician, nurse or pharmacist shall be held criminally or civilly liable for assisting a person in the free exercise of this right.The Constitution of India provides a long list of fundamental rights under Part-III. Article 21( “Protection of Life and Personal Liberty) of our Constitution is one of the important fundamental rights among those rights.
Right to life means the right to lead meaningful, complete and dignified life. It does not have restricted meaning. The object of the fundamental right under Article 21 is to prevent any restriction by the State to a person upon his personal liberty and deprivation of life except according to procedure established by law.
Active voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should be legalized. Moral, religious, and ethical objections are ungrounded. The patient’s life should belong in his or her hands. Patients cannot be forced to live a life that is meaningless. According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary euthanasia is defined as “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy” (401). Euthanasia is Greek meaning “good death.”
The question arises whether right to life under Article 21 includes right to die or not. This question came for consideration for first time before the High Court of Bombay in State of Maharashtra v. Maruti Sripati Dubal. In this case the Bombay High Court held that the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 includes right to die, and the hon’ble High Court struck down section 309 IPC which provides punishment for attempt to commit suicide by a person as unconstitutional. In P Rathinam v. Union of India a Division Bench of the Supreme Court supporting the decision of the High Court of Bombay in. Maruti Sripati Dubal case held that under Article 21 right to life also include right to die and laid section 309 of IPC unconstitutional.
The right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death bears the sanction of history and is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty. The right to refuse medical treatment and the right to abortion instructs that a mentally competent, terminally ill person has a protected liberty interest in choosing to end intolerable suffering by bringing about his or her own death. "Especially with regard to taking life, slippery slope arguments have long been a feature of the ethical landscape, used to question the moral permissibility of all kinds of acts... The situation is not unlike that of a doomsday cult that predicts time and again the end of the world, only for followers to discover the next day that things are pretty much as they were...We need the evidence that shows that horrible slope consequences are likely to occur. The mere possibility that such consequences might occur, as noted earlier, does not constitute such evidence."
Ramakant Gaur.
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
09810004702
Delayed or Denied Justice...
Power concedes nothing without a demand. The struggle for justice must never be adjourned. The forces of injustice do not take vacations. True; justice delayed is justice denied in all the senses.
The strength of our Indian Culture and the society from day immemorial has been that we have the bondage of “our people” and when any justice is perpetrated on one amongst us, we shall not be the silent spectator. But today the situation is being opposite, which comes only to self centarism. It is not recent that delay in trial has emerged as a significant problem in the judicial system. But the attitude of 21st century still hesitates to respond positively to the dialect of hallowed human rights, of the dignity of personhood versus the blatant disregard by the staes of compassion for the undertrials. This contradiction between the human rights on one hand, and the punitive depriviation on the other, is the dilemma of our times. Speedy justice is the sine qua non of the criminal jurisprudence. It not only remains as an important saafeguard against oppressive incarcenation, physical and psychological anxiety and concerns accompanying detention, but it also minimises the possibilities of imparing the ability of an accused to defend himself. Indeed the right to speedy trial is an integral and essential constituent of the Fundamental Right to Life and Liberty enshrined under Artcile 21 of the Constitution of India. In Hussairnra Khatoon vs Home Secretary AIR 1979 SC 1360; 1979 CrLJ 1036 the court has abserved that “prolonged imprisonment was an abrogation of right to speedy trial since every procedure prescribed by law had to pass the test of being fair, just and reasonable.
The question of an hour is How slow a process should litigation be? Should it keep jumping from court to court? The outright answer to my brain atleast is “NO, in straightforward sense”. The litigations should not be perennial. The reason one goes to the court is to get justice. Unfortunately the judicial system in India is based on evidences and facts oand not conscience or morals, so it should be easier, once having the facts at hand, all it needs is arguments and hearing is quicker pronouncement of justice.
Accumulation of cases in law courts has reached a stage, which endangers the very existence of our judicial system. Delay in disposal of cases has assumed the gigantic proportion, shattering the confidence of the litigating public in the capacity of Court to redress their grievances and to grant adequate and timely relief. There are about 10,000 courts in India .Out of these, one Supreme Court, 21 High Courts, 3150 District Courts, 4861 Munsif and 1st class Magistrate courts and 1964 2nd class Magistrate courts are there. Besides, there are many tribunals. There are 4.04 crores cases pending in different district courts across the country while there is a backlog of 34 lacks cases in State High Courts. 1,66,77,657 criminal cases are pending before Magisterial courts and 72,37,495 civil cases are pending in various subordinate courts. As many as 70 percent of these cases are -litigations from villagers. Again some of these cases are as long as 25 to 30 years old. The longer a case runs, the more expensive it becomes to pursue. Within the High Courts, maximum number of cases are pending in Calcutta, Allahabad, Chennai, Mumbai and in Kerala High court. Out of the pending cases in these High Courts, 88 percent are civil cases and only 12 percent are criminal cases. Maximum number of pending cases in lower judiciary are in U.P., Gujrat, Maharashtra, M.P., W.B. and in Karnataka.
To answer the very question “whether the term delayed justice equalizes with the term denied justice? ”, we must go back to the Indian Independence Movement, where we fought with the British and got our Independence. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhai Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and hundreds of others who are all famous lawyers, served our nation in achieving our goal of independent India. They all maintained the profession in high esteem and followed the principles of justice and true spirit and we still pay our respect to them. As compared to the today’s era, JUSTICE or the legacy of the very subject has only remained a way to accumulate large profits. Today a senior lawyer of Supreme Court or a High Court charge fees as high as Rs. 75000 for just seeking an adjournment and there are cases where lawyers charge Rs. 1 lakh for just a single appearance in courts ignoring the mantle that they are in profession and not in business of making money.
In the words of Dr. Cyrus Das "Justice is a consumer product and must therefore meet the test of confidence, reliability and dependability like any other product if it is to survive market scrutiny. It exists for the citizenry, 'at whose service only the system of justice must work'. Judicial responsibility, accountability and independence are in every sense inseparable. They are, and must be, -- embodied in the institution of the judiciary." Credibility of the judiciary is at stake now due to mounting arrears of cases, delays in disposal and also high cost of obtaining justice. The denial of justice through delay is the biggest mockery of law. It does not amount to mere mockery; the delay in fact kills the entire fabric of justice delivery system of the country.
The incident which took place in the Chennai High Court keeping lawyers on one side and police officials on other has raised a question in my mind as to “WHO IS SUPERIOR”. The noblest of all the professions is the legal profession in not only my but every individual’s sense, and when we consider lawyers as noble, we also expect noble manners and behavior from these people. The above mentioned incident remind me of the days when lawyers went on strike ignoring their basic duty to serve the community along with the professional ethics. To control the situation Chief Justice of India Hon’ble Justice K.G.Balakrishnan, directed Justice B.N. Krishna, a retired Supreme Court Justice to enquire into the matter and submit a report. The enquiries with all the concerned people were made and a report was submitted blaming both the parties, lawyers as well as the police authorities for the UNREST. The lawyers were blamed for their unruly behavior and the police officials for their high handed actions. The incident was a shame for the entire society. Both the parties must have realized that due to this unforeseen circumstance, the very INTEGRITY of LEGAL SYSTEM had come to a stake, lying hundreds of cases unattended and the public sufferings under their feet causing injustice.
In the words of Martin Luther King “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice – everywhere”. There was a time when it was an age of barbarism. Civilization begins to progress through many ups and downs. Today we have reached, so to speak, the culmination of civilization. Justice and the judiciary is the inevitable result of that civilization. But the present day society is a victim to the dilatoriness of the process of justice. People unfortunately fall victim to injustice. They suffer day after day. A major portions of the Indian people are very poor and illiterate as well. They come to the court to get justice by paying their hard-earned money. They pay to advocates, Law clerks day after day, and wait for justice. They pay for court fees and vakalatnama’s and wait for justice. Month after month, year after year passes away- they wait for justice. They become gradually destitute by selling their everything to meet the fees of advocates, law clerks and other expenses and still wait for justice. Sometimes they pass away from the world and never get justice. Dilly-dally policy in the judiciary makes them deprived of having justice. Thus justice remains untouched by many victims in the Indian judicial system. The more they do not get relief, the more they lose their faith in judiciary. As a result, people gradually will take law in their own hand, which will lead a social anarchism. There will be deep darkness of frustration and futility, -- nihilism and cynicism all around. The whole society will be in jeopardy, as the entire judicial system will collapse under its own weight. In the words of K. G. Balakrishnan, Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, ".... the people’s faith in the judicial system will begin to wane, because justice that is delayed is forgotten, excluded and finally discharged …."
Speedy justice is ultimately a question of fairness in the administration of criminal justice. In spite of the efforts of various committees, one amongst whom is the Malimath Committee, no solution to the seed of problem had arrived. Delay in every sense adds to the cost of the litigation in addition to the mental worries. Justice should not only be swift but it should be cheap also. When we count on the administration of justice, the Judiciary is amongst one of the three pillars of the structure called as State. To my knowledge Judiciary is the weakest of three organs. It has neither power of the purse, nor the power of sword, neither money nor patronage nor even physical force to enforce its decisions.
Nothing is so frustrating to the common man as finding that after he has suffered a grievance or a wrong, it takes years to get justice from the courts. Graph of pendency in Judicial Courts maintained a steady upward posture. Taking criminal, civil and other miscellaneous criminal cases as well as no of pending figures of High Courts and the Supreme Court, the pendency of cases in the country is more than two and half crores. Non availability of counsel, non availability of the accused, interlocutory proceedings and other systematic delays (A.R.Antulay vs. UOI, AIR 1992 SC 1701: 1992 Cr.LJ 2717), delay in investigation on account of widespread ramifications of the crime and its designed network either nationally or internationally, crowded court dockets (Kartar Singh vs. State of Punjab, 1994 CrLJ 3139 (SC)), absence of public prosecutors with the number of court cases, presiding Judges proceeding on leave though the cases are fixed for a trial, strikes by the members of bar, counsels seeking adjournments and the list is not to be compressed in a page or two. Where lies the fault of a common man? Is he not worth getting justice? Or is he not valuable enough to exercise his Fundamental rights? The courts are not without blame. Judiciary is in catch 22 situation in between two off quoted sayings: - “Delay defeats Justice” and “Justice hurried is Justice Buried”. To strike a balance that people should get justice and not mere disposal of cases the Court should increase the strength of judges to 50 per million population which was held by Hon’ble Supreme Court in All India Judges Association vs. Union of India, 2002 SC 1752. The directions were reiterated in the case of Brijmohan Lal vs. Union of India (AIR 2002 SC 2096). In P.Ramchandra Rao vs. State of Kranataka, 2002 CrLJ 2547 : AIR 2002 SC 1856 the poor judge – population ratio was described as the root cause for delay in dispensation of justice. While the judge – population ratio was only 10.5 Judges per million the ratio was higher in other countries such as 41.5 in Australia, 50.9 in England, 75.2 in Canada and 107 in the United States. Increase in the strength of judges can be one method to speed up the justice delivery process, but not the final solution. Simplifying the laws and tightening the loose ends in the existing laws are equally important.
Right to Speedy justice is always clubbed with the right to Speedy trial and fair procedure to increase its evidentiary value in the eyes of a common man. The courts have time and again held that these rights has passed through several milestones on the path of constitutional jurisprudence and that the law and procedure had to withstand the tests of Articles 14, 19 and 21 and there must be right, just and fair procedure, not arbitrary, fanciful and oppressive. Since access to justice was an integral part of social justice (State of Haryana vs. Drashana Devi, AIR 1979 SC 855) adequate number of Fast Track Courts with quick procedures needs to be in place. The Fast Track Courts instead of being an ad hoc or a sporadic state effort, needed to be available after adopting a rational basis of ascertaining the total number of pending trials and deployment of proportionate manpower. Vigorous judicial action must no longer be a matter of coincidence but a well thought out responsibility under the Constitution.
Justice A.S. Anand has once observed that “What appears to be certain is that more police, more prisons, more laws, more courts will not achieve the object of bringing about reform in the system of criminal justice and checking out the crime. Giving the victim of crime his rightful place and taking a serious note of his existence, his feelings and his rights with a view to offer redress to him for his “injuries” may in the long run help check the rising graph of crime. Right to speedy justice may have been suggested as a normative justification, yet its translation into matters of detail may be tinged with a lack of realism in understanding the administration of law. However the debate has thrown open choices, more for the executive and fewer to the judicial wing to increase manual and infrastructural supports to render quick justice. The system has to be changed from “speedy trial being an exception and delay a rule” to “speedy trial a rule and delay an exception”. Speedy justice is a component of social justice since the community as a whole is concerned with the criminal being condignly and finally punished within a reasonable time and the innocent being absolved from the inordinate ordeal of criminal proceedings (Babu Singh vs. State of UP, AIR 1978 SC 527: CrLJ 651).
The loud cry for speedy justice has dismantled the horizon of judicial system in India for prolonged injustice inflicted on the common man. In my sense, problem of law and justice, speedy justice more particularly, cannot be resolved overnight. The administration of justice is heading towards a paralyzed coma stage which is leading to backlog of cases spreading a sheet on the cries of wounded common man.
Ramakant Gaur
Advocate
Supreme Court of India.
09810004702
The strength of our Indian Culture and the society from day immemorial has been that we have the bondage of “our people” and when any justice is perpetrated on one amongst us, we shall not be the silent spectator. But today the situation is being opposite, which comes only to self centarism. It is not recent that delay in trial has emerged as a significant problem in the judicial system. But the attitude of 21st century still hesitates to respond positively to the dialect of hallowed human rights, of the dignity of personhood versus the blatant disregard by the staes of compassion for the undertrials. This contradiction between the human rights on one hand, and the punitive depriviation on the other, is the dilemma of our times. Speedy justice is the sine qua non of the criminal jurisprudence. It not only remains as an important saafeguard against oppressive incarcenation, physical and psychological anxiety and concerns accompanying detention, but it also minimises the possibilities of imparing the ability of an accused to defend himself. Indeed the right to speedy trial is an integral and essential constituent of the Fundamental Right to Life and Liberty enshrined under Artcile 21 of the Constitution of India. In Hussairnra Khatoon vs Home Secretary AIR 1979 SC 1360; 1979 CrLJ 1036 the court has abserved that “prolonged imprisonment was an abrogation of right to speedy trial since every procedure prescribed by law had to pass the test of being fair, just and reasonable.
The question of an hour is How slow a process should litigation be? Should it keep jumping from court to court? The outright answer to my brain atleast is “NO, in straightforward sense”. The litigations should not be perennial. The reason one goes to the court is to get justice. Unfortunately the judicial system in India is based on evidences and facts oand not conscience or morals, so it should be easier, once having the facts at hand, all it needs is arguments and hearing is quicker pronouncement of justice.
Accumulation of cases in law courts has reached a stage, which endangers the very existence of our judicial system. Delay in disposal of cases has assumed the gigantic proportion, shattering the confidence of the litigating public in the capacity of Court to redress their grievances and to grant adequate and timely relief. There are about 10,000 courts in India .Out of these, one Supreme Court, 21 High Courts, 3150 District Courts, 4861 Munsif and 1st class Magistrate courts and 1964 2nd class Magistrate courts are there. Besides, there are many tribunals. There are 4.04 crores cases pending in different district courts across the country while there is a backlog of 34 lacks cases in State High Courts. 1,66,77,657 criminal cases are pending before Magisterial courts and 72,37,495 civil cases are pending in various subordinate courts. As many as 70 percent of these cases are -litigations from villagers. Again some of these cases are as long as 25 to 30 years old. The longer a case runs, the more expensive it becomes to pursue. Within the High Courts, maximum number of cases are pending in Calcutta, Allahabad, Chennai, Mumbai and in Kerala High court. Out of the pending cases in these High Courts, 88 percent are civil cases and only 12 percent are criminal cases. Maximum number of pending cases in lower judiciary are in U.P., Gujrat, Maharashtra, M.P., W.B. and in Karnataka.
To answer the very question “whether the term delayed justice equalizes with the term denied justice? ”, we must go back to the Indian Independence Movement, where we fought with the British and got our Independence. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhai Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and hundreds of others who are all famous lawyers, served our nation in achieving our goal of independent India. They all maintained the profession in high esteem and followed the principles of justice and true spirit and we still pay our respect to them. As compared to the today’s era, JUSTICE or the legacy of the very subject has only remained a way to accumulate large profits. Today a senior lawyer of Supreme Court or a High Court charge fees as high as Rs. 75000 for just seeking an adjournment and there are cases where lawyers charge Rs. 1 lakh for just a single appearance in courts ignoring the mantle that they are in profession and not in business of making money.
In the words of Dr. Cyrus Das "Justice is a consumer product and must therefore meet the test of confidence, reliability and dependability like any other product if it is to survive market scrutiny. It exists for the citizenry, 'at whose service only the system of justice must work'. Judicial responsibility, accountability and independence are in every sense inseparable. They are, and must be, -- embodied in the institution of the judiciary." Credibility of the judiciary is at stake now due to mounting arrears of cases, delays in disposal and also high cost of obtaining justice. The denial of justice through delay is the biggest mockery of law. It does not amount to mere mockery; the delay in fact kills the entire fabric of justice delivery system of the country.
The incident which took place in the Chennai High Court keeping lawyers on one side and police officials on other has raised a question in my mind as to “WHO IS SUPERIOR”. The noblest of all the professions is the legal profession in not only my but every individual’s sense, and when we consider lawyers as noble, we also expect noble manners and behavior from these people. The above mentioned incident remind me of the days when lawyers went on strike ignoring their basic duty to serve the community along with the professional ethics. To control the situation Chief Justice of India Hon’ble Justice K.G.Balakrishnan, directed Justice B.N. Krishna, a retired Supreme Court Justice to enquire into the matter and submit a report. The enquiries with all the concerned people were made and a report was submitted blaming both the parties, lawyers as well as the police authorities for the UNREST. The lawyers were blamed for their unruly behavior and the police officials for their high handed actions. The incident was a shame for the entire society. Both the parties must have realized that due to this unforeseen circumstance, the very INTEGRITY of LEGAL SYSTEM had come to a stake, lying hundreds of cases unattended and the public sufferings under their feet causing injustice.
In the words of Martin Luther King “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice – everywhere”. There was a time when it was an age of barbarism. Civilization begins to progress through many ups and downs. Today we have reached, so to speak, the culmination of civilization. Justice and the judiciary is the inevitable result of that civilization. But the present day society is a victim to the dilatoriness of the process of justice. People unfortunately fall victim to injustice. They suffer day after day. A major portions of the Indian people are very poor and illiterate as well. They come to the court to get justice by paying their hard-earned money. They pay to advocates, Law clerks day after day, and wait for justice. They pay for court fees and vakalatnama’s and wait for justice. Month after month, year after year passes away- they wait for justice. They become gradually destitute by selling their everything to meet the fees of advocates, law clerks and other expenses and still wait for justice. Sometimes they pass away from the world and never get justice. Dilly-dally policy in the judiciary makes them deprived of having justice. Thus justice remains untouched by many victims in the Indian judicial system. The more they do not get relief, the more they lose their faith in judiciary. As a result, people gradually will take law in their own hand, which will lead a social anarchism. There will be deep darkness of frustration and futility, -- nihilism and cynicism all around. The whole society will be in jeopardy, as the entire judicial system will collapse under its own weight. In the words of K. G. Balakrishnan, Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, ".... the people’s faith in the judicial system will begin to wane, because justice that is delayed is forgotten, excluded and finally discharged …."
Speedy justice is ultimately a question of fairness in the administration of criminal justice. In spite of the efforts of various committees, one amongst whom is the Malimath Committee, no solution to the seed of problem had arrived. Delay in every sense adds to the cost of the litigation in addition to the mental worries. Justice should not only be swift but it should be cheap also. When we count on the administration of justice, the Judiciary is amongst one of the three pillars of the structure called as State. To my knowledge Judiciary is the weakest of three organs. It has neither power of the purse, nor the power of sword, neither money nor patronage nor even physical force to enforce its decisions.
Nothing is so frustrating to the common man as finding that after he has suffered a grievance or a wrong, it takes years to get justice from the courts. Graph of pendency in Judicial Courts maintained a steady upward posture. Taking criminal, civil and other miscellaneous criminal cases as well as no of pending figures of High Courts and the Supreme Court, the pendency of cases in the country is more than two and half crores. Non availability of counsel, non availability of the accused, interlocutory proceedings and other systematic delays (A.R.Antulay vs. UOI, AIR 1992 SC 1701: 1992 Cr.LJ 2717), delay in investigation on account of widespread ramifications of the crime and its designed network either nationally or internationally, crowded court dockets (Kartar Singh vs. State of Punjab, 1994 CrLJ 3139 (SC)), absence of public prosecutors with the number of court cases, presiding Judges proceeding on leave though the cases are fixed for a trial, strikes by the members of bar, counsels seeking adjournments and the list is not to be compressed in a page or two. Where lies the fault of a common man? Is he not worth getting justice? Or is he not valuable enough to exercise his Fundamental rights? The courts are not without blame. Judiciary is in catch 22 situation in between two off quoted sayings: - “Delay defeats Justice” and “Justice hurried is Justice Buried”. To strike a balance that people should get justice and not mere disposal of cases the Court should increase the strength of judges to 50 per million population which was held by Hon’ble Supreme Court in All India Judges Association vs. Union of India, 2002 SC 1752. The directions were reiterated in the case of Brijmohan Lal vs. Union of India (AIR 2002 SC 2096). In P.Ramchandra Rao vs. State of Kranataka, 2002 CrLJ 2547 : AIR 2002 SC 1856 the poor judge – population ratio was described as the root cause for delay in dispensation of justice. While the judge – population ratio was only 10.5 Judges per million the ratio was higher in other countries such as 41.5 in Australia, 50.9 in England, 75.2 in Canada and 107 in the United States. Increase in the strength of judges can be one method to speed up the justice delivery process, but not the final solution. Simplifying the laws and tightening the loose ends in the existing laws are equally important.
Right to Speedy justice is always clubbed with the right to Speedy trial and fair procedure to increase its evidentiary value in the eyes of a common man. The courts have time and again held that these rights has passed through several milestones on the path of constitutional jurisprudence and that the law and procedure had to withstand the tests of Articles 14, 19 and 21 and there must be right, just and fair procedure, not arbitrary, fanciful and oppressive. Since access to justice was an integral part of social justice (State of Haryana vs. Drashana Devi, AIR 1979 SC 855) adequate number of Fast Track Courts with quick procedures needs to be in place. The Fast Track Courts instead of being an ad hoc or a sporadic state effort, needed to be available after adopting a rational basis of ascertaining the total number of pending trials and deployment of proportionate manpower. Vigorous judicial action must no longer be a matter of coincidence but a well thought out responsibility under the Constitution.
Justice A.S. Anand has once observed that “What appears to be certain is that more police, more prisons, more laws, more courts will not achieve the object of bringing about reform in the system of criminal justice and checking out the crime. Giving the victim of crime his rightful place and taking a serious note of his existence, his feelings and his rights with a view to offer redress to him for his “injuries” may in the long run help check the rising graph of crime. Right to speedy justice may have been suggested as a normative justification, yet its translation into matters of detail may be tinged with a lack of realism in understanding the administration of law. However the debate has thrown open choices, more for the executive and fewer to the judicial wing to increase manual and infrastructural supports to render quick justice. The system has to be changed from “speedy trial being an exception and delay a rule” to “speedy trial a rule and delay an exception”. Speedy justice is a component of social justice since the community as a whole is concerned with the criminal being condignly and finally punished within a reasonable time and the innocent being absolved from the inordinate ordeal of criminal proceedings (Babu Singh vs. State of UP, AIR 1978 SC 527: CrLJ 651).
The loud cry for speedy justice has dismantled the horizon of judicial system in India for prolonged injustice inflicted on the common man. In my sense, problem of law and justice, speedy justice more particularly, cannot be resolved overnight. The administration of justice is heading towards a paralyzed coma stage which is leading to backlog of cases spreading a sheet on the cries of wounded common man.
Ramakant Gaur
Advocate
Supreme Court of India.
09810004702
"MONEY LAUNDERING"
"MONEY AND MONEY LAUNDERING"
Money is like fire, an element as little troubled by moralizing as earth, air and water. Men can employ it as a tool or they can dance around it as if it were the incarnation of a god. Money votes socialist or monarchist, finds a profit in pornography or translations from the Bible, commissions Rembrandt and underwrites the technology of Auschwitz. It acquires its meaning from the uses to which it is put.
Mahatma Gandhi said: - "Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed"
The primary function of money is to serve as a medium of exchange, and as such it is accepted without question in final discharge of debts or payment of goods or services. Money has been regarded as bone of contention between friends and relatives. It is said lend money to a person if you want to spoil him or make foe. Money - wealth, property or estate have always caused family, feuds and even murders for it is said that all is fair in love and war. Money is devil’s child and is responsible for many mischief and evils. Money is the root cause of many evils like corruption, black marketing, smuggling, drug trafficking, tax evasion, and the buck does not stop here it goes to the extent of sex tourism and human trafficking (a human selling another human in the era of human rights). People want more money to cater to their needs and at a point of time they don’t hesitate to have money from any source (black or white who cares). This is the available soft corner where the concept of money laundering enters and prospers.
Money Laundering refers to the conversion or "Laundering" of money which is illegally obtained, so as to make it appear to originate from a legitimate source. Money Laundering is being employed by launderers worldwide to conceal criminal activity associated with it such as drug / arms trafficking, terrorism and extortion. In other words the term money laundering brings to our mind those nefarious activities of the criminals who provide an envelope to “slush funds” in order to exhibit those as genuine money. Money laundering is a process by which criminals give the color of legality and legitimacy to slush funds. Ignoring economic vandalism, most crime is economic crime. In Black's Law of Lexicon the term laundering is being referred to as investment or other transfer of money flowing from racketeering, drug transactions and other sources (illegal sources) into legitimate channels so that its original source cannot be traced.
The major objectives of Money Laundering activities are: Concealing the true ownership of illegally-obtained money and Placement, layering and integration of such funds. Money laundering is the processing of criminal proceeds to disguise its illegal origin. Terrorism, illegal arms sales, financial crimes, smuggling and the activities of organised crime, including trafficking and prostitution rings, generates huge sums. Embezzlement, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud also produce large profits and create the incentive to legitimize the ill-gotten gains through money laundering. When a criminal activity generates substantial profits, the individual or group involved in such activity route the funds to safe heavens by disguising the sources, changing the form, or moving the funds to a place where they are less likely to attract attention. Money laundering is inextricably linked to the underlying criminal activity that generates it. Money laundering promotes corruption and bribery in every sector. Bribe is just like human blood to the tongue of a wild cat, which once gets the taste of it cannot resist killing humans. Thus money laundering is an activity which is capable of corrupting a chain of financial institution.
Money Laundering is the biggest Fear for Finance Industry. The entire industry in the world or any separate country must understand that financial crime needs to be understood, analyzed and fought proactively. Banking Industry needs to be one step ahead of money launderers in order to control the menace of money laundering and financial crimes. Concern regarding financial crime is growing to unprecedented levels amongst UK financial institutions. ML activities threatens national governments and international relations between them through corruption of officials and legal systems. It undermines free enterprise and threatens financial stability by crowding out the private sector, because legitimate businesses cannot compete with the lower prices for goods and services that businesses using laundered funds can offer. Few specific challenges which are posed by the money laundering activities throughout the world includes: - Terrorism, ongoing threat to the Banking System, threat to Economic and Political Stability etc..
Speaking of money laundering apparently “when the dye packs were first introduced by banks a group of bank robbers got caught by them but not in the typical fashion. They were caught because people noticed them putting loads of pink colored cash into the machines at a public laundromat days after the robbery. Seems the dye pack exploded and instead of throwing away the tainted cash they tried to literaly launder it to get rid of the dye job”.
RAMAKANT GAUR
ADVOCATE (MANAGING PARTNER—ACE JURIX)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
312, SHAKUNTALA BUILDING
59, NEHRU PLACE
NEW DELHI 110019
09810004702
Money is like fire, an element as little troubled by moralizing as earth, air and water. Men can employ it as a tool or they can dance around it as if it were the incarnation of a god. Money votes socialist or monarchist, finds a profit in pornography or translations from the Bible, commissions Rembrandt and underwrites the technology of Auschwitz. It acquires its meaning from the uses to which it is put.
Mahatma Gandhi said: - "Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed"
The primary function of money is to serve as a medium of exchange, and as such it is accepted without question in final discharge of debts or payment of goods or services. Money has been regarded as bone of contention between friends and relatives. It is said lend money to a person if you want to spoil him or make foe. Money - wealth, property or estate have always caused family, feuds and even murders for it is said that all is fair in love and war. Money is devil’s child and is responsible for many mischief and evils. Money is the root cause of many evils like corruption, black marketing, smuggling, drug trafficking, tax evasion, and the buck does not stop here it goes to the extent of sex tourism and human trafficking (a human selling another human in the era of human rights). People want more money to cater to their needs and at a point of time they don’t hesitate to have money from any source (black or white who cares). This is the available soft corner where the concept of money laundering enters and prospers.
Money Laundering refers to the conversion or "Laundering" of money which is illegally obtained, so as to make it appear to originate from a legitimate source. Money Laundering is being employed by launderers worldwide to conceal criminal activity associated with it such as drug / arms trafficking, terrorism and extortion. In other words the term money laundering brings to our mind those nefarious activities of the criminals who provide an envelope to “slush funds” in order to exhibit those as genuine money. Money laundering is a process by which criminals give the color of legality and legitimacy to slush funds. Ignoring economic vandalism, most crime is economic crime. In Black's Law of Lexicon the term laundering is being referred to as investment or other transfer of money flowing from racketeering, drug transactions and other sources (illegal sources) into legitimate channels so that its original source cannot be traced.
The major objectives of Money Laundering activities are: Concealing the true ownership of illegally-obtained money and Placement, layering and integration of such funds. Money laundering is the processing of criminal proceeds to disguise its illegal origin. Terrorism, illegal arms sales, financial crimes, smuggling and the activities of organised crime, including trafficking and prostitution rings, generates huge sums. Embezzlement, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud also produce large profits and create the incentive to legitimize the ill-gotten gains through money laundering. When a criminal activity generates substantial profits, the individual or group involved in such activity route the funds to safe heavens by disguising the sources, changing the form, or moving the funds to a place where they are less likely to attract attention. Money laundering is inextricably linked to the underlying criminal activity that generates it. Money laundering promotes corruption and bribery in every sector. Bribe is just like human blood to the tongue of a wild cat, which once gets the taste of it cannot resist killing humans. Thus money laundering is an activity which is capable of corrupting a chain of financial institution.
Money Laundering is the biggest Fear for Finance Industry. The entire industry in the world or any separate country must understand that financial crime needs to be understood, analyzed and fought proactively. Banking Industry needs to be one step ahead of money launderers in order to control the menace of money laundering and financial crimes. Concern regarding financial crime is growing to unprecedented levels amongst UK financial institutions. ML activities threatens national governments and international relations between them through corruption of officials and legal systems. It undermines free enterprise and threatens financial stability by crowding out the private sector, because legitimate businesses cannot compete with the lower prices for goods and services that businesses using laundered funds can offer. Few specific challenges which are posed by the money laundering activities throughout the world includes: - Terrorism, ongoing threat to the Banking System, threat to Economic and Political Stability etc..
Speaking of money laundering apparently “when the dye packs were first introduced by banks a group of bank robbers got caught by them but not in the typical fashion. They were caught because people noticed them putting loads of pink colored cash into the machines at a public laundromat days after the robbery. Seems the dye pack exploded and instead of throwing away the tainted cash they tried to literaly launder it to get rid of the dye job”.
RAMAKANT GAUR
ADVOCATE (MANAGING PARTNER—ACE JURIX)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
312, SHAKUNTALA BUILDING
59, NEHRU PLACE
NEW DELHI 110019
09810004702
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