400pc rise in cases of suspicious transactions

New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) Cases of suspected terror
financing and crime related money went up by almost 400 per
cent in India's banking and monetary channels keeping
enforcement and intelligence agencies on their toes during the
last financial year.
More than 17,000 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs)
were generated by the financial intelligence wing of the
government with the maximum reports of such transactions being
received and reported by the banking channels of the country.
But there is no information with the Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU) on what the law enforcement agencies
like CBI or ED did with the information provided by the FIU,
officials said.
According to the data submitted by the FIU to the
Indian Union Finance Ministry, a total of 17,209 STRs -- which
gave rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that the
transaction may involve the proceeds of crime or financing of
activities related to terrorism -- were received as compared
to 4,409 such reports in the 2008-09 fiscal.
"The huge increase of such reports indicates that the
Indian financial channels are being used extensively to
conduct transactions of huge amounts within the country and to
foreign shores. The selected reports have been sent to
intelligence and enforcement agencies for action within their
legal domain," a top Indian Finance Ministry official said.
"The number of STRs received from banks showed more
than 160 per cent growth in 2009-10 as compared to 2008-09,"
the report said, underlining the quantum jump in the reportage
of such sensitive and crucial financial reports from banking
and other institutions dealing with huge cash.
While other financial institutions reported 2,872 of
such cases, intermediaries reported 2,497 cases in the data
compiled by the FIU till March this year.
All financial institutions of the country are bound
under the law to submit a report of such suspicious
transactions in their channels to the FIU which subsequently
sends it to various enforcement agencies like the Income Tax
department, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC),
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the
Enforcement Directorate (ED) for action.
An STR includes details of all accounts, transactions,
individuals and legal persons or entities related to a
suspicious transaction.
More than 1.83 crore Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs)--
with more than Rs 18 lakh crore of money value in them -- were
also reported to the FIU which monitors these transactions to
check money laundering and forex violations by individuals and
organisations.