Silver Notice more effective in digging out info on offshore illicit wealth: CBI Director
The Notice, aimed at locating illicit assets laundered across borders, is the newest addition to Interpol's suite of eight colour-coded Notices and Diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide
New Delhi: Terming the recently introduced Interpol ‘Silver Notice‘ a “more effective” tool than the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) for gathering information on illicit assets parked offshore, CBI Director Praveen Sood has said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea, which has now been realised.
In an exclusive interaction with PTI, he said Prime Minister Modi had proposed in 2015 a system under Interpol to trace money laundered offshore, and it has now taken shape as the Silver Notice.
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The Notice, aimed at locating illicit assets laundered across borders, is the newest addition to Interpol’s suite of eight colour-coded Notices and Diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide.
Conventionally, the information on illicit assets is gathered through MLATs which are treaties between two countries whereby they cooperate to provide and obtain formal assistance in the prevention, suppression, investigation, and prosecution of crime.
Common complaints under MLAT include requests being transferred from one agency to another or one bank to another. Sometimes difficulties arise in obtaining a response because of a large number of requests.
India has MLATs with 45 countries, according to data on the Ministry of Home Affairs website. “From MLAT, the stature has been increased to Interpol notice, which has a higher degree of emphasis than MLAT. The sanctity of this process has increased; now it is through Interpol notices that are more acceptable to member countries. Possibly more information will come,” the CBI chief said.
He, however, added that MLATs will continue to be an effective tool as they are easier and country-to-country level than Interpol notices which have a wider reach but are sparsely used.
Under the Interpol mechanism, States and central agencies can use the recently introduced Bharatpol to seamlessly send their requests for information through the CBI, which is designated as the National Central Bureau of India for all matters pertaining to the global organisation.
