Yes, an ED officer works under the central government. The directorate of enforcement examines to select the candidates. Chartered accountants can apply for ministerial posts through the UPSC examination. Other government jobs suitable for chartered accountants and company secretaries are MRCL, Rural Regional Bank, LIC, Gas Authority of India Limited, National Rural Health Mission, and public sector banks. The Parliament of India formed the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2002. The rules of PMLA came into practice in 2005, July. The objectives of the PMLA Act are to control money laundering, seize the accumulated money and property, and handle the issues related to money laundering. The directorate of enforcement examines through the SSC GGL examination. The commission examines the students with a two-tier system of examination. The final selection is after the review of mark and rank. An assistant enforcement officer receives a salary of a pay scale 7. The salary ranges from 44900 to 142400. The eligibility criteria is a pass in the graduation with a minimum pass mark.
Tier one of the 2024 SSC GGL examination has the following subjects: general intelligence and reasoning, quantitative aptitude, general awareness, and English comprehension. The SSG GGL tier two examination has three papers. The first paper is the compulsory one for all the posts. Paper one has three sections. Section one is about mathematical abilities, reasoning and general intelligence. Section two is English language and comprehension and General awareness. Section three is the computer knowledge test and data entry speed test. The second paper is for junior statistical officers. The third paper is for the assistant audit officer. Paper two is statistics. Paper three is general studies {finance and economics}. The blog intrigues the readers with the laws and processes related to the Money Laundering Act.
Laws related to money laundering:
The parties involved in money laundering get seven to ten years of imprisonment. Money laundering ends with the following risks: reputational risk, loss of revenue used for public welfare projects, terror funding, and drug networks. Anti-money laundering makes the criminals realise the risk of handling the ill-gotten money. The laws related to money laundering are The Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Benami Transactions Act, of 1988, the Trademarks Act, of 1999, the Copyright Act, of 1957, the Information Technology Act, of 1999, the Passport Act, of 1967, the explosive substances act, 1908, environment protection act, 1986, and arms act, 1959, the Code of Criminal Procedure, of 1973, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, of 1985, and the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in narcotic drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, of 1988. AML regulations check the financial activity, suspicious reports, and customer transactions.
The authorities involved in the PMLA are director or additional director or joint director, deputy director, additional director or officer, and assistant director. The central government and the chief justice of the high court together can appoint a special court to handle the cases or group of cases. RBI frame the guidelines for financial institutions and banks. SEBI also frames requirements for KYC norms to financial intermediaries handling the securities. The following information comes under the ED scrutinize process:
• Cash transactions with a value of 1,000,000 or equivalent to this value in foreign money.
• The series of transactions with an inter-connection and valued under the rate of 1, 000, 0000 or equivalent in foreign currency comes under the checking process.
• Cash transaction with a count of counterfeit money with a security or document.
• If there is a cash transaction with a non-profit organisation in foreign money with a value of INR 1,000,000, it comes under the checking process.
• Cross-border transfers in foreign currency with a value of INR 500,000 or equivalent are under the checking process.
• Purchase of sale of property by the reporting entity with a value of INR 5,000,000.
• The suspicious cash or noncash transactions are taken by the ED within seven working days of complaint from the relevant party.
The three processes in money laundering:
The three stages in money laundering are placement, layering and integration stage.
The first stage is the placement stage. In this stage, the cash has started movement from its source to the money circulation spots. The different placement processes are currency smuggling, currency exchanges, bank complicity, securities brokers, blending of funds and asset purchase.
The layering stage is a challenge to the law enforcement agencies. In this stage, the cash changes as monetary instruments and material assets. The layering stage requires international contacts. The monetary instrument is in the form of a money order or banker’s draft. The illegal in the form of assets in the local or foreign location is difficult to seize. The layering stage makes use of technology and financial transactions.
The integration stage makes use of the banking system. Banks help for making illegal money as business earnings. The sale of property is a way to make the illegal money as legal. The criminals make use of false loans and front companies to make illegal money legal.
Final Thoughts:
The popular cases in the Directorate of Enforcement and Department of Revenue show the importance of Indian and foreign laws. Some of the case studies are the Russian money-laundering scandal, wire Remittance Company and Operation Wire Cutter. Chartered accountants and company secretaries are suitable for UPSC examination jobs, Government jobs and ED jobs. Chartered accountants and company secretaries have vast knowledge of the laws, legal system and financial processes. The foundational knowledge helps understand the job. Apart from corporate jobs, the government jobs offer a different type of challenge to the professionals. The interest and goal move the professionals to corporate and government department jobs.