S.N.D.T.

Women’s University
Law School
Criminilogy
Subject:- White Collar Crime Identification
Class :- LLB 1st Year
Name :- Pratiksha Tripal Bhagat
ROLL NO:-4
Submitted to: Mrs. Shahjeeda

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 Index
SR. No. Topic Page No
1 Introduction 3

2 White collar crime in India 4-5

3 Reasons for the growth of white 6-7

collar crimes in India
4 Effect of White Collar Crime 8-11

5 Types of white collar crime in India 12-15

6 5 Ways to Spot White Collar Fraud 16-20

7 White collar crime investigation 21-23

8 Legislation against white collar 23

crime in India
9 Measures to curb white collar crimes 24-25

10 Case Law 26-27

11 Conclusion 28-29

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3
 Introduction
“The practitioners of evil, hoarders, the profiteers, the black
marketeers, and speculators are the worst enemy of our society. They have
to be dealt with sternly. However well placed important and influential
they maybe, if we acquiesce in wrongdoing, people will lose faith in
us.” -Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

The most influential criminologist of the 20th century and also a

sociologist, Edwin Hardin Sutherland, for the first time in 1939, defined
white collar crimes as “crimes committed by people who enjoy the high
social status, great repute, and respectability in their occupation”. The five
attributes of the given definition are:

• It is a crime.
• That is committed by an important person of the company.
• Who enjoys a high social status in the company.
• And has committed it in the course of his profession or
occupation.
• There may be a violation of trust.

Related to the corporate sector, white collar crimes are defined as

non-violent crimes, generally committed by businessmen and government
professionals. In simple words, crimes committed by people who acquire
important positions in a company are called white collar crimes.

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 White collar crime in India
Corruption, fraud, and bribery are some of the most common white
collar crimes in India as well as all over the world. The Business
Standard on 22.11.2016 published a report titled ‘The changing dynamics
of white collar crime in India’ stating that in the last 10 years, the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found a total of 6,533 cases of
corruption out of which 517 cases were registered in the past two years.

Statistics showed that 4,000 crores worth of trading was carried out
using fake or duplicate PAN cards. Maharashtra showed a rapid increase
in the number of online cases with 999 cases being registered. The report
also mentioned that around 3.2 million people suffered a loss because of
the stealing of their card details from the YES Bank ATMs which were
administered by Hitachi Payment Services.

Advancement in commerce and technology has invited

unprecedented growth in one of the types of white collar crimes, known as
cybercrime. Cybercrimes are increasing because there is only a little risk
of being caught or apprehended. India’s rank on Transparency
International’s corruption perception index (CPI) has improved over the
years.

In 2014, India was ranked 85th which subsequently improved to

76th position in 2015 because of several measures to tackle white collar
crimes. In 2018, as per the report of The Economic Times, India was
placed at 78th position, showing an improvement of three points from
2017, out of the list of 180 countries.

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 India is a developing country and white collar crimes are becoming
a major cause for its under development along with poverty, health, etc.
The trend of white collar crimes in India poses a threat to the economic
development of the country. These crimes require immediate intervention
by the government by not only making strict laws but also ensuring its
proper implementation.

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 Reasons for the growth of white collar crimes
in India
Greed, competition and lack of proper laws to prevent such crimes
are the major reasons behind the growth of white collar crimes in India.

Greed
The father of modern political philosophy, Machiavelli, strongly
believed that men by nature are greedy. He said that a man can sooner and
easily forget the death of his father than the loss of his inheritance. The
same is true in the case of commission of white collar crimes. Why will a
man of high social status and importance, who is financially secure,
commit such crimes if not out of greed?

Easy, swift and prolong effect

The rapid growing technology, business, and political pressure has
introduced the criminals to newer ways of committing white collar crimes.
Technology has also made it easier and swifter to inflict harm or cause
loss to the other person. Also, the cost of such crimes is much more than
other crimes like murder, robbery or burglary, and so the victim would
take time to recover from it. This would cut down the competition.

Competition
Herbert Spencer after reading ‘On the Origin of Species’ by
Darwin, coined a phrase that evolution means ‘survival of the fittest’. This
implies that there will always be a competition between the species, and
the best person to adapt himself to the circumstances and conditions
should survive.

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 Lack of stringent laws
Since most of these crimes are facilitated by the internet and digital
methods of transfer payments, laws seem reluctant to pursue these cases
as investigating and tracking becomes a difficult and complicated job.
Why it becomes difficult to track it is because they are usually committed
in the privacy of a home or office thereby providing no eyewitness for it.

Lack of awareness
The nature of white collar crimes is different from the conventional
nature of crimes. Most people are not aware of it and fail to understand
that they are the worst victims of crime.

Necessity
People also commit white collar crimes to meet their own needs and
the needs of their family. But the most important thing that the people of
high social status want to feed their ego.

The reasons behind white collar criminals

going unpunished are:
• Legislators and the people implementing the laws belong to the
same class to which these occupational criminals belong.
• The police put in less effort in the investigation as they find the
process exhausting and hard, and often these baffling searches
fail to promise favourable results.
• Laws are such that it only favours occupational criminals.
• The judiciary has always been criticised for its delayed
judgement. Sometimes it so happens that by the time court
delivers the judgement, the accused has already expired. This
makes criminals loose in committing crimes. While white collar
crimes are increasing at a faster rate, the judiciary must increase
its pace of delivering judgements.

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 Effect of White Collar Crime
• Effect on the company
White collar crimes causes huge loss to companies. In order to
recover the loss, these companies eventually raise the cost of
their product which decreases the number of customers for that
product. This works according to the law of demand states that,
other things being equal, when the price of a commodity rises,
it’s demand would fall and when the price lowers, its demand
would increase. In short, the price of the commodity is inversely
proportional to its demand. Since the company is in loss, the
salaries of the employees are lessened. Sometimes the company
cut down the jobs of several employees. The investors of that
company and its employees finds it difficult to repay their loans.
Also, it becomes hard for people to obtain their credits.

• Effect on the employees

White collar crimes endanger employees. They become
conscious of their working conditions, whether it is safe anymore
or not. They start doubting if they are safe and that they can still
be given in their trust to the company.

• Effect on customers
The most important concern of the customers is whether the
products which they are using is safe or not. This doubt rise to
see the rate at which white collar crimes have been increasing.

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• Effect on society
White collar crimes are harmful to the society for those people
who should be cited as a moral example and who must behave
responsibly are one committing such crimes. The society thus
becomes polluted.When the former director of Andhra Bank and
the directors of a Gujarat based pharma company, Sterling
Biotech, were arrested for their involvement in 5000 crore fraud
case. They used to withdraw money from bank accounts of
several benami companies. This was one big scam which put the
people in fear. Also in 2018 the Punjab National Bank (PNB)
found that fraudulent transactions of value 11, 346 crore rupees
have been taking place in its Mumbai branch. “The Staff there
used to fake LoU ( Letter of Understanding) for the buyer’s
credit to the company of Nirav modi and Gitanjali Group”, as
published in the Business World.

• Loss of confidence
Stock fraud or trading scandals, like that happened in the U.S. in
the 1980s, makes people lose faith in the stock market. Barry
Minkow, a teenager and the owner of the business of carpet
cleaning built a million dollar corporation in the 1980s. But, he
was able to achieve this only through forgery and theft. He
managed to create more than 10,000 counterfeiting documents
and sales receipts without coming to someone’s notice. His
company although created through fraud was able to make
market capitalization of 200 million dollars and leased 4 million
dollars of land. Later, he was sentenced to 25 years of
imprisonment.

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• Effect on offenders
The authorities have shown no consensus on the definition of
white collar crimes. There are no accurate statistics available to
analyse the causes and effects of such crimes and therefore
government fails to take exact measures to prevent them. Also,
though these crimes are on the rise, they are generally not
reported. These crimes have no eyewitnesses as they are
committed in camera, which means that the offenders commit
these crimes while sitting in a closed room or in their personal
space using their computers, and nobody could know about what
they are doing on their computer. This makes it difficult to track
the offenders. All these loopholes becomes an incentive for the
offenders to fearlessly commit such crimes because the
punishment is also for a short term unlike in blue-collar crimes.
Offenders are mostly seen roaming freely which poses a danger
to the society.

• Effects on the temperament of the affected

person
The target of the offenders are generally elderly people with little
access to liquid assets and their cognitive ability is less than that
of younger people. So they become an easy target for the
offenders. The victims of such crimes often undergo depression
and are seen to have suicidal tendencies, because sometimes the
loss incurred is unbearable. The renowned startup founder, Vijay
Shekhar Sharma, the person who founded the widely used app
for transaction namely Paytm, became a victim of blackmailing
by his personal secretary Sonia Dhawan. She along with others
stole his personal data along with sensitive business plans, to

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extort money from him. Also, Sharma received regular calls
stating that his personal information would be revealed to the
public if he doesn’t give the required amount to them. Sharma
was put under a lot of pressure.

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 Types of white collar crime in India
The ambit of white collar crimes is varied. Some of the white
collar crimes that have been reported in India are:

• Blackmail
Section 503 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 defines blackmailing
or criminal intimidation as, making a demand for money or any
other consideration by imposition of threat to cause physical
injury, or to cause damage to ones property, or to accuse one of a
crime, or to expose somebody’ secret. The threat can be induced
in the following ways:
1. By revealing a secret of the person which the offenders knows if
revealed will cause great embarrassment to the victim. For
example, if A, the Managing Director of the company XYZ,
knows that B, a female employee of the same company, was
bearing the child of somebody other than her husband. A asked B
to commit forgery on the account papers so that he could
embezzle 20 lakhs rupees from the company without anybody
knowing about it, or else he would reveal her secret which would
cause great embarrassment not only to her but her family as
well.
2. By doing acts which could falsely accuse the other person of a
crime, thereby affecting his life in many ways. For example,
when X, an officer at senior most post asks her secretary to marry
his son else he would falsely accuse her of embezzlement of 10
lakhs rupees from the company, which actually has been done by
X. This is blackmailing as a white collar crime.

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 When does blackmailing become a white collar
crime
For blackmailing to be considered under the ambit of white collar
crime, it should be committed by or show an involvement by someone
enjoying higher social status in an occupation.

• Credit card frauds

These frauds are committed when one person uses the credit card of
another person unauthorizedly to obtain goods of value, he is said to
have committed credit card fraud against the other person. For example,
in 2003 in Mumbai, Amit Tiwari, a 21 years old engineering student was
arrested for using too many names, for having too many bank accounts
and too many clients, all false managed to defraud a Mumbai-based
credit card company, CC Avenue, of around 9 lakhs rupees.
This case brought to the notice of the authorities that credit card
frauds have not been recognized by the Information Technology Act,
2000. The loophole in the law has caused a great loss to the company.
As per the report released by the Economic Times, it was found that
over 900 cases of credit/debit cards and internet banking have been
registered during the period of April-September, 2018. All these cases
involved an amount of 1 lakh rupees and above. Minister of State for
Electronics and IT (2018), S.S. Ahluwalia, informed that the Reserve
Bank of India by 30th September, 2018 had registered a total of 921
cases of credit/debit card fraud.
In 2017 a Metropolitan Magistrate became a victim of credit/debit
card where the victim received two messages for two transactions done
from his debit card, not in India, but abroad. The victim claimed that
those transactions did not have his consent. A complaint of cheating
under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 was filed.

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• Currency Schemes
These schemes basically refers to the practice of determining the
value of the currency in the near future. The determining of the value is
not based on any firm evidence though.
According to a report, ‘Trend and Progress of Banking in India’
released by the Reserve Bank of India, published by the Financial
Express in January, 2019, it was alleged that the banks have lost 41,168
crore rupees in the financial year of 2018 which shows a 72% rise from
what was in 2017. The reason behind this rise is the fraud against
currency schemes. The report cited that fraud have turned out to be a
major concern with a 90% rise of such cases in the credit portfolio of
banks with the major chunk of fraud being concentrated in off-balance
sheet operations, foreign exchange transactions, deposit accounts and
cyber-security.

• Fraud with the insurance company

Sometimes the case may be that people use false documents to
obtain insurance from the insurance company. For example, a person can
fake the price of her property by raising its value on the fake documents
and obtain insurance for that fake amount. They make the papers in such
a way that it seems legitimate and insurance company get defrauded.
The case can also be that the consumer deliberately stage an
accident, theft, injury or any other damage which comes under insurance
policy. Or they sometimes exaggerate the damage caused. They even go
on to omit or provide false documents or application or information to
claim insurance. Also insurance fraud can be committed by an insurance
company, agent or consumer where they deliberately deceive the other
person for illegitimate financial gain.

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 Two officials of the Life Insurance Corporation of India were
arrested for falsely extracting 3 crore rupees as death claims from the
company. The officials forged documents they manipulated around 190
insurance policies with the account numbers of their acquaintances in
place of the real nominee. Though the origin policy holders were alive
they could not make out the fraud that has been made to them.

• The kick-back fraud

• Fraud in buying and purchasing of securities
• Racketeering
• Fraud over calls
• Fraud in welfare activities
• Using wrong weights
• Bank fraud
• Bribery
• Cybercrime
• Money laundering

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 5 Ways to Spot White Collar Fraud

Unlike most other crimes, employee fraud involves both deception

and an abuse of the trust that has been placed in the perpetrators as part of
their professional roles. Most fraudsters also undertake specific efforts to
conceal their crimes. This combination of factors makes fraud schemes
particularly difficult to detect – which, in turn, allows the frauds to
continue uninterrupted and the losses to multiply.
With the numerous issues and financial constraints faced by many
organizations today, detecting employee fraud often takes a backseat, with
a focus on reacting after the fact rather than proactively seeking out fraud.
But because most fraud schemes continue – and grow – until they are
discovered, actively identifying potential fraud is vital in protecting the
organization’s assets.
The following techniques are among the most effective ways to fight
fraud and weed out employee wrongdoing.

1. Know the Signs

Even with targeted concealment measures, nearly every fraud leaves
some kind of trail. Whether in the accounting records, computer files,
communications or behavior of the perpetrator, there is generally some sign
– an anomaly – that, in hindsight, should have been a red flag of the
wrongdoing. Being well-versed in the evidence a fraud scheme leaves
behind is essential to uncovering the act.
Warning signs in the accounting system include missing or altered
documentation, accounts with unexpected transactions or balances, and
unexplained accounting entries. Computer files that have been copied,
altered, moved or deleted in an unusual way (e.g., during non-work times
or from remote locations) can also provide clues of theft, manipulation or

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attempted concealment. Additionally, both the patterns and the content of a
perpetrator’s communications can illuminate areas meriting attention. For
example, an inordinate amount of emails, calls or visits between an
employee and one particular vendor or customer might indicate an
unusually close relationship, perhaps involving bribes, kickbacks or a
conflict of interest.
Likewise, fraudsters often display behavioral traits that can provide a
warning sign of their schemes; ACFE research shows that most common
behavioral characteristics among fraudsters include living beyond their
means (displayed by approximately 36 percent of fraudsters) and
experiencing financial difficulties (displayed by approximately 27 percent
of fraudsters). Understanding and watching for each of these types of red
flags is the foundation of any fraud detection activity.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that the presence of one or more of
these red flags does not, in itself, indicate wrongdoing or fraud; instead
recognizing these circumstances should be viewed as a means to identify
areas worthy of further exploration.

2. Encourage Reports
ACFE research shows that tips are by far the most common method
through which fraud is detected. While security professionals, auditors,
compliance staff or management might typically be viewed as responsible
for fraud detection activities in an organization, it is really the staff-level
employees who are the first line of defense in spotting fraud committed by
their peers. They are the ones who are working side-by-side with the
perpetrators, accessing the same systems, privy to their coworkers’
behavior, and intimately familiar with true operations (not just expected
protocol) of the business, all of which puts them in the best position to
notice abnormalities. In some organizations, such as financial institutions,

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customers are an equally valuable and viable source of information about
potential problems.
An effective whistleblower program involves providing and
publicizing multiple mechanisms through which employees and others can
report suspicious activity, as well as openly, clearly and fully supporting
those who do come forward with information.

3. Empower the Staff

To bolster the support for reports of wrongdoing, staff at all levels
should be empowered with the necessary knowledge and ability to aid in
fraud detection. Specifically, managers should be tasked with duty to help
uncover fraud in their departments. According to ACFE research,
management’s review of processes, transactions and controls was the
second most-common method by which fraud was detected, indicating the
importance of proactively enlisting employees with management and
supervisory roles in the fight against fraud.
For some managers, such as those in the accounting department, this
might involve formally including anti-fraud activities in their job
descriptions; for others, it might take the form of carrying out specific
duties and exercising oversight in a way that ensures they will be able to
detect things that are amiss. Additionally, employees at all levels must be
trained about how fraud hurts them and what they can do to help prevent
and detect it. Doing so will raise staff awareness, increase employee
engagement in fraud detection efforts, and likely result in more – and more
effective – tips regarding potential fraud.

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 4. Examine the Data
Most fraud affects the organization’s accounting data in some way.
Whether an inventory theft leaves the books out of balance or a fraudster
makes false entries in the organization’s systems to cover the fraud, close
examination of the financial records can highlight areas for further
investigation. Proactive data analysis is often done by auditors, as they are
the charged with examining the organization’s finances and accounting
systems; in fact, internal and external auditors together uncover
approximately 18 percent of frauds, according to ACFE research.

However, such analysis does not need to be left to the audit team.
Automated tools can be set up to scan the accounting data for items that fall
outside expectations – for example, payments to vendors not on an
approved list, employees who receive more than one paycheck per period,
or attempts to access computer systems or files by unauthorized employees
– and to provide alerts for any potential problem transactions. This can help
focus the fraud detection team on those areas that are most likely to contain
manipulations or anomalies that indicate fraud.

Additionally, many organizations are also beginning to actively

monitor emails and other text-based data for signs of fraud. Textual
analytics involves using tools to search for a high occurrence of certain
keywords (such as “in over my head” or “get caught”) that might indicate
the convergence of the pressure, opportunity and mindset necessary to
engage in fraud. This type of analysis might be performed periodically or
continually, and might be automated or manual. However, implementing
textual analytics as a fraud detection tool requires the use of sophisticated
software, as well as a thorough understanding of the legal environment of
employee rights and workplace searches; consequently, it might not be
appropriate for all organizations or situations.
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 5. Stop It Before It Starts

Clearly, the best way to protect an organization from fraud is to

prevent it from happening in the first place. An extra benefit of openly
undertaking the fraud detection methods discussed above is that doing so
sets a clear anti-fraud tone and sends the message that attempted fraud is
being proactively sought out. In turn, this has a deterrent effect on potential
fraudsters; individuals who think there is a high probability that fraud will
be caught and punished are much less likely to engage in wrongdoing.
Consequently, in a time when many organizations are trying to accomplish
more with fewer resources, vigorously seeking out employee fraud – an
activity which both limits losses from existing frauds and helps prevent
potential future frauds – is a critical part of protecting company assets.

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 White collar crime investigation

• White collar crime investigation process

There has been a recent growth in the investigation process of white
collar crimes in India. With the increase in the number of anti-corruption
marches, the companies are experiencing an increase in a time-to-time
investigation. These internal investigations acts as a watchdog against any
unwanted activity. This further prevents the company from embarrassing
raids. In India, there is no strict procedure which needs to be followed
while conducting these internal investigation relating to the white collar
crimes. With the breakout of the #MeToo movement, companies have got
an incentive to fasten their investigations in sexual harassment cases.

For example

1. When the CEO of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar was facing

charges of fraud, the bank resorted to internal investigation by Reserve
Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India and Central Bureau
of investigation. To look into the matter an independent committee was set
up which was headed by retired supreme court judge, Justice B.N.
Srikrishna.
2. When Binny Bansal, Co-founder and group chief executive of
Flipkart, was alleged for serious misconduct, the bank decided for an
independent investigation which would be carried out on behalf of Flipkart
and Walmart.

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• White collar crime investigation techniques
There are a few basic techniques for the investigation of white collar
crimes, and they are:

1. There should be an informant in the team who would give the

first hand information about a white collar crime taking place or had taken
place in a company and keeps the investigating officers updated with all
that was, is or will be going on in the company. Unless and until somebody
informs the police about the crime, no investigation can take place.
Therefore, the role of informants become important.
2. Involvement of undercover agents. The presence of undercover
agents are important as they help in tracing those evidence which are
not prima facie evidence. They also help in giving information regarding
people who go underground and then commit serious offences. Since
tracking such people is not possible by the police officers, they appoint
undercover agents who without any hint to the accused gets all the details
about him.
3. Introducing the examination of the physical evidence in the
laboratory is very crucial for deciding a case. The medical evidences play a
key role in giving a direction to a case. If not manipulated, then the medical
tests are very efficient in determining who the accused would be in cases of
serious offences, like rape.
4. Police officers are often seen conducting physical surveillance
through dogs and electronic surveillance through CCTVs, or tracking call
records, etc. These surveillance helps in tracking down even the smallest of
evidence against the suspect.
5. Interrogation is that tool in the hands of the police which helps
in taking out those information from the suspects which they would not
have otherwise given.

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 6. Wiretapping where the law permits to do it helps in proving the
guilt by way of producing call record in the court. In some cases, call
records are sufficient evidence to hold a person guilty of an offence.

• Legislation against white collar crime in India

There are several provision that exists for identifying white collar
crime. Government in order to ensure that the criminal committing white
collar crime be punished has brought in the following legislations-

1. The Companies Act, 1960

2. The Income Tax Act, 1961
3. Indian Penal Code, 1860
4. The Commodities Act, 1955
5. The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
6. The Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881
7. The Prevention of Money laundering Act, 2002
8. The Information Technology Act, 2005
9. The Imports and Exports (control) Act, 1950
10. The Special Court (Trial of offences relation to Transactions in
Securities) Act, 1992
11. The Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003

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 Measures to curb white collar crimes
The measures that can be adopted to prevent the commission of
white collar crimes are:

1. The top investigating agencies of the country like the

Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate, the
Income-tax Department, The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and
the Customs Department, needs strengthening, by way of implementing
strong regulating policies. The Central Vigilance Commission should
monitor the working of the officials sitting at top positions and also
cross-check their works, so as to ensure transparency in the system.
2. As the method of commission of such white collar crimes is
advancing, so should the training of the investigating officials. It often
happens that ageing officers are well experienced to understand the
nature and techniques, but are not able to utilise the technology for
tracking the suspect. This happens due to lack of training. So, every
investigating officer must be trained in such a manner that, no matter
how complicated the case is, they would be able to easily resolve it.
3. To uproot the existence of such crimes, it is very important
to include strict laws into the system. Less amount of fine and shorter
period of imprisonment makes it very casual for the offenders to
commit such crimes.
4. Fast track courts and tribunals should be set in all the parts
of the country for the early disposal of these cases. The tribunal should
be provided with the power to fine or imprison someone who has been
held guilty. Such measures would lower the rates of occurrence of
white collar crimes.
5. The electronic and print media should be utilized in the
right way to spread awareness about white collar crimes. The general
people need to be aware of such crimes and that they are taking place

25
everywhere, from a small cafe to big multinational companies. Also,
they need to be aware of the remedies they could seek in case they
become victim to such crimes.
6. Stringent laws and hefty fine and long term imprisonment
should be given to the offenders for committing such crimes. And for
this to happen, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 should be amended and
include provisions for the white collar crimes. For example, the IPC
could have a separate chapter dealing with white collar crimes.
7. The government may establish a separate body which
would look into the matter of crimes and criminality prevailing in the
country. The independent body could be named as the National Crime
Commission. Since their entire work would be related only to the
crimes and would be an independent body, it could work more
efficiently towards reducing criminality in the country.

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 Case Law

• SEBI v. Burman Plantation and Others

Before the High Court of Allahabad, the learned counsel on behalf
of SEBI claimed that the company is being wrongly accused as the
company was not in a position to pay its debts, including payments to its
investors. When the advertisement by the company was put to question,
the council said that the advertisement was given in 2003 while the order
was passed in 2004, when the company was not in a position to payback
its debts.

Moreover, the sum of money which the investors were claiming

was nowhere cited. The main claim of the counsel made the legislatures
raise the punishment from 1 year to 10 years and also increased the fine
which may now extend to 25 crores by amending the laws under section
24(1) of the SEBI Act. At last, Ravi Arora, the accused, was held liable.

• Abhay Singh Chautala v. C.B.I.

There were two appellants in the present case against whom a
charge sheet was filed for committing an offence under Section 13(1)(e)
and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 read with Section
109 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 in separate trials. It was alleged that
both the accused had accumulated disproportionate wealth as per their
income when they were they members of the Legislative Assembly.

When the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated its

investigation it was found that the father of the appellant had acquired
huge properties and same as the case with the appellants. The High Court
held that the appellant had provided a totally different office(s) of the

27
accused than they were actually holding at that time. Thus the sanction
under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was held to
be without any merit.

• Binod Kumar v. State of Jharkhand & Others

This case was filed against several ministers of the State of
Jharkhand along with the Chief Minister for having the possession of
unaccountable money. The High Court had requested the Central
Government to transfer the case from Enforcement Directorate to CBI by
way of power given to it under Section 45 (1A).

It was alleged that the ministers were in possession of hefty

amounts of money and though no evidence was found to charge them
with money laundering case, a strict investigation was proposed.

The ministers were said to be the owners of property not only in

India but abroad as well. Therefore, the court asked for an investigation
to determine this wealth was acquired by making use of the official
position. It was to be clarified if a white crime has been committed under
the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and under the Indian Penal Code,
1860.

The CBI started its investigation under Prevention of Corruption

Act, 1988 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as the power to carry on
investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act was only with
the Enforcement Directorate, which is of course subjected to the power
given to the Central Government under Section 45 (1-A) of the
Prevention of Money-laundering act.

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 Conclusion

white collar crimes have two surprising features, first, that they are
non-violent crimes, though the criminals have the tendency to gain
control or have a sense of entitlement, and, second, that they are
committed by people in the higher profession.
However, these crimes are also committed by poorly paid
underlings, although the mastermind behind the commission of such
crime could be a rich person enjoying a higher social status in his
occupation. white collar crimes are often committed because of peer
pressure or are dependent on the culture of the company.

As our society is growing towards modernity and the world is

experiencing new technological advancement, the rate of crime is also
increasing at a faster rate. Particularly the growth in white collar crimes
has been enormous. From the medical profession to educational
institutions, these crimes are being committed everywhere.

The cases of online fraud are also increasing at an alarming rate.

India, as a developing nation, has faced difficulties in leading its
economy towards growth because of these crimes in general and
corruption in particular.

The investigating officials are in need of training where they could

acquire the skill to trace these criminals, otherwise tracking of whom
is difficult, complicated and tiresome job. The investigating officials’s
work should be scrutinized to ensure transparency in the work as the
white collar crimes are committed by people enjoying higher social
status in their occupation.
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 The government must make laws that are strict enough to reduce
the commission of such crimes. And the system should be such that not
only there exist laws giving strict punishment to the accused but also
dispose off maximum cases in a short while. If not done so then people
will soon lose complete faith in the system, as these crimes are
committed by people who should act as a role model for the society.

The media has a key role to play in reducing the rate of increasing
white collar crimes. It has been noted that most of the white collar
crimes go unreported. So, if the media becomes more active towards
publishing frauds and scams at higher levels and revealing how do the
people at higher position in a company use their powers arbitrarily, and
also make efforts in making people aware about the white collar crimes,
and avoid corrupt practices, then this would definitely help in reducing
the rate at which the white collar crimes are being committed.

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