Criminal Prosecution Of Economic Offenders An Effective Deterrent: Justice Pasayat

Cuttack: Vice-chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, Justice Arijit Pasayat, on Tuesday said that criminal prosecution of the offenders is an effective deterrent to curb economic offence.

“Slapping financial penalty will not have any impact on these offenders,” he said after presiding over the eighth meeting of the SIT at his residence here in the afternoon.

Stating that the use of black money was rampant during the general elections as Rs 3800 crore in cash was seized during the period, Justice Pasayat said the SIT will be submitting its seventh interim report on black money within a couple of months.

The meeting discussed how the black money menace can be checked and measures required for bringing back black money from abroad. Besides, it also reviewed the probe into the chit fund scam and discussed strategies to maintain multi-agency coordination.

Senior officials of the Income Tax department, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Vigilance department, Crime Branch and Enforcement Directorate (ED) were present.