Starting from
Congress to ADMK
BSP to Samajwadi party ,
TMC to TDP
etc.,
and most recently BBC an international broadcasting service.
It is high time we discuss the future of the CBI at a national level. it has also been called a ‘Central Bureau of Intimidation’.
Figuring out that this is the first government in the history of Indian politics to brazenly use agencies like the CBI to settle their own political scores is no rocket science. The Narendra Modi government will exploit any and every institution for their gains.
When someone with corruption charges ends up joining the BJP, they forget about all existing allegations against that individual. But if you decide to stand upright and challenge their politics, then these agencies come after you specifically.
It is true that these agencies have been exploited in the past. But it’s almost as if the BJP government is hell-bent on changing the very nature of these agencies.
It is time for us to revisit the fundamental make-up of the CBI. It should be completely free of any political influence.
even if it pretends to be an autonomous organisation, it is programmed by the ruling party.
in my view
Those heading these agencies are equally to blame for obliging political parties
These agencies have come under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in the past for either being in league with the powers that be or not discharging their functions as required of them under the law. The mechanism put in place to grant them autonomy on the prodding of the court has not succeeded. The officers, who staff or lead these agencies, must equally share the blame for this malaise, being ever willing to oblige to those in power even though they have the security of service and even tenure sometimes.
The situation will improve only if a system is put in place, which will ensure a more transparent process for the selection of officers and ensure accountability to law, coupled with adequate checks and balances
I observed another trend is that
Cases and probe agencies spring out of cold storage before elections, and turn cold soon after
Do you Remember how many times the CBI suddenly became active in pending cases against the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party just before a trust vote in the Lok Sabha?
What makes the BJP government stand apart, is that it seems to have taken this to a completely new level.
Before every assembly election in the last few years, there have been clear cases where the CBI and/or the ED have gone after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political opponents. Once the elections are over, the probe goes cold. In most cases, the news disappears, too.
Many have held the agencies’ moves as motivated, aimed at tilting the scales in favour of the BJP, done also through selective leaks by the agencies.
Rahul Gandhi has spent 50 hours spread over five days and Sonia Gandhi 12 hours over three days in the ED office answering queries in the National Herald case.
The ED is currently headed by Sanjay Kumar Mishra, an Indian Revenue Service officer who is a well-known authority on international finance and taxation and has handled the finance ministry’s Foreign Taxation division. He is known for his meticulous work in matters related to violations of income tax rules. He is a tough taskmaster and pursues cases deeper.
The department wasn’t surprised when in November 2021, the Modi government issued an ordinance to give him an extension of one year. His second extension is politically so potent that it has been challenged by eight petitioners in Supreme Court. The notices have been issued by the Supreme court to the government, and Mishra too.
Vivek Wadekar (1991 batch) is the special director of the ED. Again, he is a taxation expert.
One retired ED officer explains that for the last two decades, India’s lawmakers and lawbreakers have been aware of the potent PMLA and its applications. But under the Modi government, the ED’s public profile has changed. Now, ED doesn’t mean “it deals only with cases of violations of foreign exchange.”
Whenever the CBI files an FIR, the ED is bound to enter all those CBI cases where the money trail needs to be unearthed. The cases of Partha Chatterjee and Sanjay Raut are about alleged money laundering (within the country), which may or may not involve violations of foreign exchange rules, but these cases fall into the ED’s purview under the PMLA. There are some 32 different acts and many more clauses of the criminal act which if the CBI applies in any of its FIR, then automatically ED can take cognisance and enter the case. Like it did with Partha Chatterjee. The local office of ED headed by Subhash Agrawal in Kolkata had its own intelligence network that helped track the money and got the big catch. Now, Aadhaar number, PAN card, income tax returns and buying and selling of properties and shares are all thickly interlinked and less opaque than before.
A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids in connection with the alleged irregularities in Mayawati memorials scam, Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Partry national president N. Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the Modi government was using the Central agencies to target leaders of non-BJP parties.
Since 2014, 4-fold jump in ED cases against politicians; 95% are from Opposition parties.
Strangely
What it explains is the poor conviction record.
In the past, multiple media reports have highlighted how India’s investigative agencies do a poor job in putting together their case and arguing it in a court of law. In April 2016, the-then finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia even chided the ED over its abysmal conviction rate.
Anonymous ED sources have through various stories complained about insufficient manpower, the difficulty in establishing evidence of a proper money trail and poor litigation strategies.
The numbers put out so far should also be seen in the context of India’s notoriously slow judicial system. Even though the ED has special PMLA courts to prosecute its cases, the system is still creaky and often has multiple delays in seeing a full case through.
Nevertheless, the data is likely to be viewed by some, particularly opposition parties, that the ED continues to be used as a political tool of intimidation.
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