The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is ready to outsmart sharp-minded embezzlers and corrupt public servants now. After a lull in 2012 in terms of cases of disproportionate assets (DA), it began assembling a team of experts in various fields to help nab such offenders, officials said.
With this team assembled over the past year, the ACB now aims to keep the momentum going, which it had gathered in 2013. Last year, it had detected as many as nine DA cases across the state, while no such cases were detected in the year before. This team comprises advisers from legal, revenue, technical and financial backgrounds, said ACB additional director Shamsher Singh.
“The team currently has eight legal advisers since last year, as well as one technical and revenue adviser each, hired recently. We will soon have on board a financial adviser. Three chartered accountants (CAs) have been shortlisted and one of them will be selected to fill in this spot,” he said.
And, no amateur team, this. Apart from the soon-to-be-selected financial adviser, the legal experts include retired judges and lawyers, while a former district development officer (DDO) is the revenue adviser and an engineer will handle the technical aspect of the operation.
Explaining the need for such a team, Singh said their experience and expertise becomes essential as offenders have been found to employ newer and varied ways to conceal their ill-gotten wealth in recent years.
“Earlier, we used to temporarily hire financial consultants from private firms to look into the books of account on a case-to-case basis. However, the inconsistency in outcome and risk of top-secret information leaking out made it difficult for us to continue that exercise,” he added.
To sharpen its ability to crack cases, this team will also undergo training through a specialised DA investigation course at the academy of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Ghaziabad, UP. Other course material by this academy is also used to train officials at the ACB, said Singh.
With the financial advisor for the team — its last member –– nearly finalised, it will be functioning at full-steam in coming days, he added.
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