Use discretion fairly in investigations: FM to DRI officials

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today asked revenue intelligence officials to use their discretion fairly and reasonably in their investigations and use technology to deal with offenders.

“The power of revenue officers are quite wide so the exercise of discretion has to be fair, reasonable and productive,” he said at the celebration of 60th anniversary of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), CBEC.

Jaitley said that only when the success rate of prosecution and penalty is high then it would act as a deterrent for offenders. He said that with every passing generation the nature of economic offence is changing and technology is being used to commit those offences.

Technology is a great enabler for the offenders and the DRI should use it effectively to track down economic crimes. “At times, the flight of capital may be so quick and lean organisation like DRI would need to continue to upgrade skills,” Jaitley said.

He said that generally many investigative agencies start off with tall claims when they detect offences but ultimately with trials and prosecution, the claims fizzle out. Speaking on the occasion, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said DRI is currently working with staff strength of 600 officials, which is just one-tenth of the strength of Enforcement Directorate.