M A I N   N E W S

Vital defence file missing

NEW DELHI, June 27 (UNI, PTI) — The all-important file containing a government order eliminating middlemen in the defence purchases is missing hampering the Central Vigilance Commissioner’s probe.

‘‘I have asked the Defence Secretary about the whereabouts of the file which is missing,’’ CVC N. Vittal told UNI this evening.

Defence Minister George Fernandes had asked the CVC to probe all defence deals after 1989 to ascertain whether any irregularity was involved in the purchases or any middlemen were involved.

To a query, Mr Vittal also said that since cricketers were outside the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act, he would not have much of a role to play in the match-fixing allegations.

Mr Vittal criticised the prevention of Money Laundering Bill, saying it had no provisions for dealing with white collar economic offences.

‘‘Money Laundering Bill has an inherent weakness as it recognises only financial proceeds of crimes listed in the schedule of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and leaves out many of the economic offences committed by white collared workers,’’ Mr Vittal said at an Assocham seminar here.

The Money Laundering Bill, introduced in the winter session of Parliament last year, has been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

Dwelling at length on the implications of the new Information Technology Act on the banking sector, Mr Vittal said that the important feature of the act was that it recognised offences that could be committed in the era of information technology and had provided for penalties.

Tampering with computer source documents, breach of confidentiality and privacy, publishing false digital signature certificates and publication of digital signatures for fraudulent purposes had been recognised by the Act as crimes and punishments prescribed, he said.

The Central Vigilance Commission has set a deadline of January 1, 2001 for computerisation of 70 per cent of the operations of banks all over the country, Mr Vittal said, adding that the application of IT in the banking sector would expedite banking operations and reduce the drudgery and time taken in normal banking operations.

The emergence of electronic-banking where banking transactions can be carried out on internet would result in at least 11 per cent cost savings besides time, Mr Vittal said.

‘‘When Indian banks are moving towards getting at least 70 per cent of their business computerised, electronic fund transfer will become very important. I have been saying that instead of the strategy of branch-wise computerisation, we should go for bank-wide computerisation,’’ he said.