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The Indian Express, June 29, 2018 ED joint director Rajeshwar Singh, who is probing the Aircel-Maxis case, has been battling corruption in reel life too. In 2011, he played the lead role in Bollywood movie  Kya Yahi Sach Hai , based on the book, Carnage by Angel, by former cop Y P Singh, Singh’s brother-in-law. The film, directed by the cop-turned-lawyer, is about a disillusioned policeman battling corruption in the police force. Singh’s sister and Y P Singh’s wife Abha Singh, an IAS officer who quit the service to practise law, also acted in the movie. In the opening scene, Singh while taking parade salutes reminds the police force of “honesty, dedication to duty and discipline”. Singh is the joint director in-charge of Lucknow Zone, but is mostly seen in the Khan Market headquarters of ED as he is also handling 2G cases. In fact, the ED in 2012-13 set up a headquarter unit making Singh the head of all high-profile and political investigations in the country. A Provisiona

Daily Hunt, June 28, 2018 Pakistan has committed to a 26-point action plan to be implemented over 15 months to curb terror financing following the FATF’s decision to put it on a watch list, said several media reports. Pakistani authorities promised to choke financing to terror groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Haqqani network and the Taliban. Pakistan has been placed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force for failing to curb anti-terror financing despite its diplomatic efforts to avert the decision, an official said today. The decision was taken late last night at the global financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) planery session in Paris where Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar represented Pakistan, according to official sources. The annnoncement comes a day after Pakistan submitted a comprehensive 26-point action plan to the FATF to choke the funding of

The Times of India, Jun 28, 2018 President Donald Trump's moves to protect US trade interests are creating unusual bedfellows in Asia. India and China, longstanding economic and strategic rivals, are seeing a thaw in relations less than a year after the most serious border flare-up since a war in 1962 threatened ties between the two Asian giants. Since May, China has made it easier for India to export non-Basmati rice, removed import duties on anti-cancer drugs and agreed to share data that predicts river flows between the two countries during the flood season. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have met twice since April, pledging to strengthen bilateral ties. Driving the marriage of convenience is Trump's unpredictable policy-making. The US has ratcheted up global trade tensions with tariff threats against China + , Canada, Mexico and the European Union, prompting several to retaliate. Last week India also joined the fray, raising

Mumbai, June 27, 2018 State-run lenders accounted for a staggering 85 per cent of nearly 6,500 fraud cases, amounting to more than Rs 30,000 crore, RBI's latest edition of Financial Stability Report showed. Top 10 banking frauds in 2018 alone lead to a financial loss of Rs 10,000 crore. Banks had reported nearly 5,000 frauds amounting to Rs 20,000 crore in fiscal year 2017.  “In recent years, frauds reported (For more than Rs 1 lakh) in the Indian banking sector show an increasing trend both in terms of number and quantum. In terms of the relative share of frauds, PSBs have a disproportionate share (more than 85 per cent) significantly exceeding their relative business share,” the regulator said.  While the bulk of banking frauds was loan-related, a sharper rate of growth was observed in total number of frauds in 2017-18 was also driven by a significant jump in card and internet banking related scams. The quantum and share of PSU bank frauds was much higher than their

Dailyhunt, June 28,  The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday quizzed Odisha's richest MLA Sanatan Mahakud for his alleged involvement in a mining scam, informed sources said.The Independent MLA, who is associated with transport company Maa Kuanri, however, denied grilling by the ED officials.The MLA from Champua in mineral-rich Keonjhar district was grilled for hours over his business transactions with mine owners named in the Shah Commission report on the mining scam, the sources added."The ED had sought information from me in connection with my business. I have provided them with every bit of information. I am no offender. I am not involved in any scam," Mahakud told reporters here.The ED had raided mining companies Sirajuddin and Company, Indrani Patnaik and Company and Triveni Earthmovers and the transport company on July 9, 2015, following its FIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of the commission report.The Shah Commission

Business Standard, June 29, 2018 India may roll back higher tariffs it announced last week on imports from the US if talks on the matter, scheduled to be held in Washington, DC next month, prove fruitful. The government is also hopeful of securing exemption from the Trump Administration regarding steel and aluminium tariffs, which had been imposed earlier by the US against all trade partners. Last week, India finally imposed higher tariff rates on 29 import items from the US, aimed at raking in $240 million worth of duties through higher tax up to 100 per cent. However, the government hinted otherwise on Thursday, wrapping up the three-day-long discussions with senior US officials led by US Trade Secretary Mark Linscott. “The implementation of the tariff hike is from August 4 and we are hopeful of resolving the issue before that,” a senior commerce department official said. Earlier this month, India had last week notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its decisi

The Indian Express, June 29, 2018 THE office of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Officers), or PCDA(O), has warned retired and serving Army officers about calls from fraudsters, who pretend to be from the PCDA(O) and seek their account details, on the pretext of giving an insurance bonus. The office, which looks after salaries of all serving commissioned Army officers across the country, has issued an advisory to the officers, asking them not to share such details and, if they get such calls, to immediately report them. The office of PCDA(O) caters to over 46,000 serving Army officers, right from the Chief of Army Staff, who is of the rank of a General, to the officers of the rank of lieutenant, which is the first rank for commissioned officers. The office looks after the pre-audit and payment of salary, allowances and all claims of Army officers. It also possesses sensitive data about them, such as the places where they are posted and their service tenures. In t

Financial Express,  June 28, 2018 The government has decided to adopt a “wait and watch” approach for the next three to four months before taking a call on Air India disinvestment, a senior official said today. The official also said the general view in the government is that the national carrier should be in the hands of Indian entities. The government’s proposed stake sale in Air India failed to attract any initial bidders when the deadline for bidding ended on May 31. “We are keeping a wait and watch policy (on Air India disinvestment) for the next three to four months. The fuel prices are high at present and we have to judge the viability of going ahead with the disinvestment process,” the official said. He also noted that the aviation sector as a whole is facing difficult times, mainly on account of rising fuel prices. “The government is also of the view that Air India should be in the hands of Indian entities,” the official added. Under the proposed plan, the government was

The Asian Age, Jun 29, 2018 Having announced the ambitious move of providing an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) to 1.5 times the production cost of all crops in Union Budget 2018-19, which will lead to doubling of their income in the long run, the Centre is now trying hard to build a consensus over the issue as several farmers’ leaders and organisations have indicated the concept will take some more time to fructify. The Niti Aayog held a high-level meeting with several farmers’ organisations and farmer leaders on Thursday to thrash out a solution on providing MSP for procurement of all agriculture produce by private traders. With the farmers’ unrest emerging as one of the major electoral planks for the Opposition to target the Centre and the sowing season for kharif crops already started, the government seems to be struggling to finalise the MSP for agricultural produce at which private traders will procure it. Sources told this newspaper that no concrete solu

The Wire, June 28, 2018 Zurich/New Delhi:  Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50% to CHF 1.01 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017, reversing a three-year downward trend amid India’s clampdown on suspected black money stashed there. In comparison, the total funds held by all foreign clients of Swiss banks rose about 3% to CHF 1.46 trillion or about Rs 100 lakh crore in 2017, according to official annual data released on Thursday by Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation. The surge in Indian money held with Swiss banks comes as a surprise given India’s continuing clampdown on suspected black money stashed abroad, including in banks of Switzerland that used to be known for their famed secrecy walls for years. The Indian money in Swiss banks had fallen by 45% in 2016, marking their biggest ever yearly plunge, to CHF 676 million (about Rs 4,500 crore) – the lowest ever since the European nation began making the data public