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Crime and Money Laundering: The Indian Perspective
In part 1 of the treatise, Jyoti Trehan has gone into the why, where and how of crime and its evolution into the global behemoth we confront today. A survey of international criminal groups and big crime follows. This part is of interest to the lay reader to give a grounding of what follows. The chapter on terrorism, though brief, is tantalising. Part 2 goes into the details, basics and mechanics of laundering with explanations of terms of daily usage and vague comprehension like shell companies, offshore jurisdictions, tax havens, hot money, paper trails etc. The financial dimensions of money laundering are mind boggling, as are the implications of and threat to national security. The author laments the weak and inefficient Indian law on the subject, as contained in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. There is stress on the threat to national security due to the dry-cleaning activities of various groups and individuals, mostly well known. The author regrets the tendency to treat the activity as a form of genteel white-collar crime. Pages 162 to 164 explore the crux of the issue in examining Penetration of Legitimate Commerce and Crime Money: Implications for Economic Policy Formulation. The "e" dimensions as well as the euro/dollar dimensions have been covered. A telling solution is suggested in the initiative on taking the profit out of crimes. This is a scholarly, well-researched work. The reviewer is a former Director General of Police, Punjab |
THE book is obviously topical and relevant. What,
however, is of concern is the ambivalent view of the subject taken not
only by lawmakers and the general public, but also by the enforcers of
the government system, including the author's own profession. The
reference to laundering comes from the preference for laundries by the
Italian immigrants into the "Promised Land", the so-called
land of the free. Since they also formed the foot soldiers of the
Italian crime syndicates and were generally fronts for fictitious
businesses to legitimise the proceeds of crime, the term became
universally acceptable. The author, a self-professed temperamentally
ambitious person, has utilised his experience as an IPS officer and also
a Nehru Fellowship to present a suitably somber picture of the problem
and the threat.