Financial Intelligence Unit – India

About FIU-IND:

• Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) was set by the Government of India as the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.
• FIU-IND is also responsible for coordinating and strengthening efforts of national and international intelligence, investigation and enforcement agencies in pursuing the global efforts against money laundering and financing of terrorism.
• FIU-IND is an independent body reporting directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the Finance Minister.
• The personnel of FIU-IND are inducted from different agencies like Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Department of Legal Affairs and Intelligence agencies.

Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units

• The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is an international organization that facilitates cooperation and intelligence sharing between national financial intelligence units (FIUs) to investigate and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
• National FIUs collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity and are responsible for processing and analyzing the information received.
• The Egmont Group is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding “Financial intelligence unit (FIU-IND)”:
1.The ambit of FIU-IND extends to money laundering and terrorist financing.
2.It reports directly to the union home minister.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question