With the Finance Ministry notifying as many as 15 additional departments, ministries, and regulatory bodies, including CVC, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), and the Serious Frauds Investigation Office besides CCI, to mandatorily share information with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), almost all aspects of commercial transactions in India, including foreign trade data, now fall under the ambit of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) investigations.
The revenue department has, through its notification issued on November 22, broadened the source of information flow to and from the ED through enhanced access of case information.
The list of agencies include National Investigation Agency, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, State Police Departments, Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of External Affairs, Competition Commission of India, National Intelligence Grid, Military Intelligence, wildlife crime control bureau and Central Vigilance Commission among others.
The earlier ten bodies that are already obliged to share information with ED include the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Experts’ take
Bharat Chugh, former judge and advocate at the Supreme Court, said: “This would give ED vast powers to seek information. While free flow of information is usually desirable for an effective investigation, this one is a bit too wide and gives untrammelled powers to the ED, without much accountability, regulation, or oversight.”
Rinkey Jassuja, Associate Partner, Economic Laws Practice, said, “With the recent judgment of the Supreme Court (under review for limited questions), ED now has vast powers for investigation, which allows access to sensitive information. This move by the government to allow ED to share information with various agencies will bring more integration into the workings of said agencies mentioned in the gazette notification. In the long term, this move by the government will be ultimately beneficial for the country, especially from a security perspective.”
S Vasudevan, Executive Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, said, “This will enable seamless sharing of information by ED with other agencies.”