New Delhi: Union of India (UOI) has approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction for extension of tenure of ED director Sanjay Kumar Mishra till October 15.
“The Central government is compelled to approach this (Supreme) Court seeking extension of the date upto October 15, 2023, which the Respondent No. 2 (Sanjay K Mishra) may be permitted to continue in office, in view of the ongoing FATF (Financial Action Task Force) Review which is at a critical stage where submissions on effectiveness have been made on July 21, and on-site visit is scheduled to be conducted in November, 2023.
At such a critical juncture, it is essential to have an individual who is well-acquainted with the overall status of money laundering investigations and proceedings across the country and also the intricacies of the procedures,” the 14-page petition filed by the Union Government, before the Supreme Court revealed.
Since the Enforcement Directorate is the only money laundering agency in India, its role in presentation of effectiveness of anti-money laundering provision and administration before the assessor is very significant and important from a national interest perspective, the Central Government said in its petition filed before the Apex Court, which is scheduled to hear it tomorrow, depending upon the cases listed in the SC.
The Centre further said that this is necessary to ensure that the assessment team can be promptly and ably assisted with necessary reports, information, statistics etc.
“Any transition in leadership at the Directorate of Enforcement at this stage, would significantly impair the ability of the agency to provide necessary assistance to and co-operation with the assessment team and thereby adversely impact India’s national interests,” it said.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body which has developed its recommendations to prevent and combat money laundering and terror financing. About 200 countries/jurisdictions, including India, have committed to implement these standards.
The FATF recommendations provide an in-depth description and analysis of each country’s system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system. These peer reviews or mutual evaluation assess technical compliance with FATF recommendations and reviews the level of effectiveness of a country’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system.
The FATF mutual evaluation is a comprehensive multi-stage exercise that involves evaluating country’s systems against money laundering, terror financing and proliferation financing from technical and effectiveness perspectives.
Mutual evaluation process looks at various agencies like investigating agencies, prosecutors, intelligence agencies, regulators, policy making, international and internal cooperation and coordination amongst them, it said.
In the first round, the country is evaluated on technical compliance on 40 recommendations based on criteria laid down in FATF mutual evaluation methodology, the government said.
The country is required to submit detailed responses to each criteria under every recommendation, called the technical compliance annexures. In the second stage, the country is required to submit responses against eleven immediate outcomes to establish effectiveness of its systems, the petition filed by UOI said.
Mutual Evaluation is essential for every country because any adverse report will invite several international sanctions. The present Director, Directorate of Enforcement has been engaged in preparation of documents and other requirements for Mutual Evaluation of India since beginning of year 2020, accordingly, his continuation should be till October 15, 2023, the petition said.
UNI
