Tag: Central Economic Intelligence Bureau

NEW DELHI: The National Economic Offence Records (NEOR), a unified database on economic offences, will cost the government Rs 40 crore.
A proposal has been submitted by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, the nodal agency under the finance ministry entrusted to manage the databank.
As reported by TOI, the government is preparing a new database, similar to the National Crime Records Bureau, to track all economic offenders and use data analytics to assist enforcement agencies to deal with such offences in a coordinated manner.
An international consultant, hired by the government, recently completed its systems requirement study and submitted the report to the finance ministry.
Sources said the government is taking keen interest in development of NEOR and has already given the task to the National Informatics Centre to complete development of the software in coordination with the finance ministry. The project was initiated in 2019 and is way behind schedule.
The NEOR mandates all agencies — CBI, Customs, ED, I-T, DRI, SFIO, GST Intelligence, EOWs of states — to update case details on a real-time basis once the network is rolled out nationwide.
The web-based portal will disseminate information to grassroot level offices of enforcement and investigative agencies. The new database will help in coordinated nationwide actions by multiple agencies against corrupt officials and corporate houses indulging in financial frauds and money laundering.
According to a senior finance ministry official, the current individual database of these agencies will be automatically incorporated into the NEOR through specific software applications. The NIC is currently working on the project along with the CEIB for development of software and hardware for rolling out the nationwide NEOR network.
The CEIB, which maintains dossiers of economic offenders and suspected tax evaders, has so far made more than 8,500 dossiers of entities engaged in big time money laundering within the country and outside.
“The CEIB periodically reviews the dossiers and seeks updates from concerned member agencies to keep the data base current and relevant. Bureau also has details of over 56,900 offence cases, booked by various agencies,” the official said.
The nodal agency maintains its own Secured Information Exchange Network (SIEN) through which it provides access to other enforcement agencies on cases investigated by others. For instance, in 2018-19, the Bureau had shared around 24,000 intelligence inputs with various enforcement agencies.