Another step is to increase international cooperation between law enforcement agencies to address white collar crime that spans multiple jurisdictions. This could include the sharing of information and resources between agencies, as well as the development of international protocols for investigating and prosecuting white collar crime. For instance, the creation of international task forces, such as the Panama Papers investigation where the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) coordinated a global effort to investigate and report on the leaked documents from Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, or the U.S.-led Operation Car Wash in Brazil, which brought together law enforcement agencies from different countries to investigate a massive corruption scandal involving the state-controlled oil company Petrobras.
Additionally, it is important to have robust regulations in place to prevent the misuse of technology for illegal activities. This can include regulations for the use of digital currencies and blockchain technology, as well as the monitoring of artificial intelligence and machine learning in financial services. Real life examples of this are the regulatory framework established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to combat money laundering and terrorist financing through virtual currencies, or the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) regulations for virtual currency companies operating in the state of New York, which requires them to obtain a “BitLicense” and comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.
In India also, there are several examples of white-collar crime that have been addressed through a combination of increased investment in technology and research, international cooperation, and robust regulations.
One example is the Satyam Computer Services scandal in 2009, where the company’s chairman admitted to inflating the company’s profits and assets for several years. The investigation and prosecution of this case involved the use of digital forensics to uncover the fraudulent accounting practices used by the company, as well as the cooperation between Indian law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to gather evidence and build a case against the individuals involved.
Another example is the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case in 2018, where a group of individuals, including some bank employees, were accused of using fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoU) to obtain loans from overseas branches of Indian banks. The investigation of this case involved the use of data analytics to detect patterns of fraud and suspicious financial activity, as well as the cooperation between Indian law enforcement agencies and multiple other countries including Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to trace the flow of funds and identify the individuals involved.
Source: Barandbench
