India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has made a record number of requests in one year from similar units in other countries for information to help its enquiries into money laundering and tax evasion.

In the 2018-19 financial year it made 289 requests, compared with 177 in the previous year and 138 in the year before that.

Steady increase

Over the last few years the FIU has been steadily increasing the number of requests for information it makes.

In 2013-14 it made 82 requests and in the following year just 55 requests were made.

The unit stepped up its requests in 2015 when it asked for 140 separate sets of information from foreign units.

Six-year record

Over the last six years the FIU – India’s national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions to enforcement agencies and foreign FIUs – says it has issued a total of 881 requests for information.

India’s FIU says it is also handling record numbers of requests for information from domestic agencies involved in tax revenue capture and anti-money laundering, including the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News