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WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the work of the Enforcement Directorate was “completely independent”, refuting allegations that the government used it for political or retaliatory purposes.
Sitharaman denied passing through its two wings, the Directorate of Income Tax and Enforcement (ED), at a press conference Saturday at the end of a trip to Washington, where she attended the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“Well, the ED is completely independent in its work, it’s an agency that goes after predicate offenses. Any other agency, whether it’s the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other agency, has found the first violation, and the ED steps in, “Sitharaman said.
She dismissed concerns about the malicious intentions of using such institutions to fight some private capital and civil society.
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It is widely believed that these institutions are used to hunt down parts of private capital, but also civil society. The conviction rate for ED is very low. However, there is a sense that this is a process that has become very difficult for civil society institutions that have been investigating. The Minister of Finance was asked, do you want to clarify and reassure the think tank community about the role of education and information technology?
However, Sitharaman said that whatever the ED does, it’s only after getting the proper information and evidence.
“Initially, the ED didn’t show up anywhere. I don’t want to comment on individual cases or methods, but sure, there are cases that are so prominent that if the ED goes there, it has some prima facie evidence in its hands,” Sitharaman said.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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