FinCEN Files — Key agencies alerted on revelations, meeting soon: black money SIT head

“The SIT will convene a meeting in Ahmedabad after giving the relevant agencies some time to examine the disclosures so the matter can be taken forward,” Justice Shah told The Indian Express.

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Justice Shah added that all agencies, whose representatives are part of the SIT including the CBDT, the Enforcement Directorate , the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Reserve Bank of India, among others would be intimated when the meeting will be convened.

“We want to take this forward after all the concerned Departments have done a preliminary inquiry,” Justice Shah said.

The Vice Chairman of the SIT on black money, former Supreme Court judge, Justice Arijit Pasayat, echoed Justice Shah. “I am in agreement with what the Chairman has said,” he told The Indian Express. “The SIT will take up the revelations specific to India contained in the Fincen Files seriously and look into it.”

The SIT on black money was constituted on the directions of the Supreme Court in May 2014 and was the first major decision taken by the newly formed Modi Government.

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It was empowered to examine all black money cases —where investigations had been completed or had already commenced and were ongoing or where they were pending. The SIT has since submitted several reports to the Government and was, in 2017, brought under the purview of the 2005 RTI Act.

Meanwhile, S K Mishra, Director of the Enforcement Directorate also reacted to the disclosures in the FinECN Files. “We have taken note of the global media investigation and the India end of it,” he told The Indian Express. “We are already probing some of the cases mentioned in the reports and some fresh leads may be forthcoming via the banking transactions described.”