Lock on counter terrorist funding; State Bank of India installed Anti Money Laundering (AML) software Amlock

In order to ensure the  loyalty of its customers and counter terrorist funding, the  State Bank of India (SBI) has installed Anti Money Laundering (AML) software Amlock from 3i Infotech, an Indian software company.

Money laundering is the practice of disguising illegally obtained funds so that they seem legal. It can also refer to companies sending money offshore through accounting tricks to book profits there and avoid taxation.

The implementation was carried out in order to monitor the suspicious transfer of money and comply with AML measures. AML software will be implemented across the State Bank Group, consisting of SBI and its six associate banks - State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore - totalling more than 16,000 branches across the country.

B S Bhasin, chief general manager for banking operations and principal officer for KYC/AML, State Bank of India, said, 'State Bank of India is delighted to partner with 3i Infotech to implement AMLOCK, its Anti Money Laundering Solution. We at SBI are in sync with global awareness for matters related to anti money laundering, and this partnership is a step to have an efficient technology system to keep pace with the global changes and meet regulatory and statutory obligations.'

M B Battliwala, senior general manager of 3i Infotech, told IT Examiner that Amlock recognises the pattern of suspicious transactions and makes the monitoring process easy, removing the need to examine millions of transactions.

Battliwala, however, refused to disclose the contract amount, calling it confidential. However, he said the Amlock software only recognises the pattern and does not detect offenders.

In India, the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act was made effective on 1 July 2005. Section 3 of the Act describes the offence of money-laundering as covering those persons or entities who directly or indirectly attempt to indulge or knowingly assist or knowingly are party or are actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property.

Section 4 of the Act prescribes punishment to the offender, with a minimum imprisonment of three years which can be extended to seven years. The offender is also liable to pay a fine of Rs 500,000.

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Punishment should be matching the severity of a crime

The Supreme Court has recommended that courts award punishment matching the severity of a crime, in accordance with the criminal justice system's principle of "proportionality between crime and punishment".
While imposing a sentence, the courts must also strike the right balance between the objectives of reforming a criminal and making it an effective deterrence for others from committing a crime, a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma ruled.
"Undue sympathy (to criminals) and imposing inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system and undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law," said the bench. It added that "society could not long endure under such serious threats".
"It is, therefore, the duty of every court to award proper sentence having regard to the nature of the offence and the manner in which it was executed or committed."
The bench gave the ruling while restoring a 10-year jail term to a Rohtak native Raj Kumar who had been convicted by a trial court for a murderous bid on a man called Raj Swarup and causing him grievous injuries. He and three accomplices were held guilty of of assaulting Swarup and his two sons as they were on their way to attend a court hearing.
As a result of the assault, the victim suffers from a permanent loss of memory.
The Supreme Court restored the sentence of the trial court after setting aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling, which had reduced the sentence to seven years without assigning any reason for it.
"Anything less than a penalty of greatest severity for any serious crime is thought to be a measure of toleration that is unwarranted and unwise," the bench said.
A mismatch between the severities of crime and punishment makes punishment unjustifiable, said the bench, adding that "uniformly disproportionate punishment has some very undesirable practical consequences for the society".
Maintaining that "protection of society and stamping out criminal proclivity must be the object of law", the bench said that this objective "must be achieved by imposing appropriate sentence".

The bench enhanced Raj Kumar's jail term to 10 years, saying that he was personally responsible for causing the grievous injuries from a sharp-edged weapon.
The bench, however, did not enhance the sentences of his other two co-convicts as they were not responsible for causing as ferocious injuries as those caused by Raj Kumar.
Recommending the synchronisation between the needs to reform a criminal and to deter a criminal from committing an offence, the bench said: "In operating the sentencing system, law should adopt the corrective machinery or the deterrence based on factual matrix."
"By deft modulation sentencing process be stern where it should be, and tempered with mercy where it warrants to be."
"The facts and given circumstances in each case, the nature of the crime, the manner in which it was planned and committed, the motive for commission of the crime, the conduct of the accused, the nature of weapons used and all other attending circumstances are relevant facts" to help determine the sentence, the bench said.
"For instance a murder committed due to deep-seated mutual and personal rivalry may not call for penalty of death, but an organised crime or mass murders of innocent people would call for imposition of death sentence as deterrence."

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Men kidnapped for illicit sex, prostitution

It is not women alone who are kidnapped in this country for having sex.
Sixty-seven men were kidnapped in India last year for having sex, which was an increase of about 40 per cent from the 2006's figure of 38 men kidnapped for the same.

Cases of five men being kidnapped for prostitution were also reported in the country during 2007 as against 35 in 2006.

What is more shocking is that eight ladies above the age of 50 were among 2,586 women being kidnapped for sex, according to the latest report prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The 'Crime in India -- 2007' report shows that there was a nominal decrease of 12 in the number of women who were kidnapped for sex last year compared to 2,599 in 2006. However, the number of women kidnapped for sex above 50 years was only one.

Women in the age-group of 18 to 30 years were the most vulnerable with 1,608 from the fairer sex becoming victims to kidnapping for sex in 2007 as against 1,488 in 2006.

Cases of kidnapping for prostitution saw 422 women being forced into sex trade along with five men.

As in the above case, women in the age-group of 18 to 30 years were the most vulnerable with 264 women becoming victims to kidnapping for prostitution.

Interestingly, not a single case of kidnapping was registered across the country for selling body or body parts while only 17 cases of kidnapping for begging were reported.

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Sarabjit Singh might escape death sentence

Sarabjit Singh, the Indian prisoner on death row in Pakistan - and some 7,000 others might escape the gallows with the law and justice ministry asking the interior ministry to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment.Law and Justice Minister Farooq H. Naek said Friday his ministry has sent a note on this to the interior ministry, which after considering it, will present it to the cabinet for approval. Hopefully the decision will be implemented “soon”, he added.


According to interior ministry records, over 7,000 prisoners in Pakistan have been sentenced to death by different courts. Among them are 35 women and seven foreigners, including two Indians Sarabjit Singh and Kirpal Singh.

Kirpal’s case is not as high profile as Sarabjit’s. He was arrested in 1991 on charges of fabricating bombs and planning to plant these in Lahore. However, his family members have written several letters to Pakistani authorities saying he crossed the border in a stupor. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a television interview that Sarabjit’s case can be resolved through dialogue.

“Every issue, including this one, can be resolved through dialogue,” the minister replied when specifically asked about Sarabjit, who was awarded the death penalty by an anti-terrorism court in 1991 with the high court upholding this. The Supreme Court rejected his mercy petition in March 2006.

Former military ruler President Pervez Musharraf rejected his mercy petition in March last year but his execution was deferred in April last year for 21 days and again till further orders.Sarabjit’s family members, human rights organisations and the Indian government have urged the president to grant clemency to Singh, who was convicted for his alleged involvement in the 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. Singh says he is only a poor farmer and victim of a mistaken identity and had strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border.

Pakistan’s leading human rights activist Ansar Burney said the interior ministry orders will apply to all prisoners on death row, irrespective of the nature of their crime. “All prisoners who have been awarded capital punishment will benefit from this and their sentences will be converted into life imprisonment,” Burney told IANS.

Burney has for long been lobbying for the move and had also presented a report to Musharraf when he was minister for human rights in the caretaker setup under Musharraf from Nov 2007 to March 2008. “I am really grateful to the government and believe this would be a huge step in recognizing human rights, which is the hallmark of all religions and all societies,” Burney added.

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Terrorist arrested at Lacknow

The Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Uttar Pradesh police on Friday arrested an active member of the Indian Mujahideen from the Gudamba police station area at LUCKNOW.

Mohammad Hakim is an accused in the September 13, 2008, serial bomb blasts in Delhi.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, State ADG, Law and Order and Crime, Brij Lal said Hakim had enrolled as a final year student in an engineering institute in Lucknow.

He was among the 13 accused in the Delhi blasts case, on whom the Delhi police had announced a reward of Rs.1 lakh each, he said.

Mr. Lal said a Delhi police team had reached Lucknow to take Hakim on transit remand.

A team of the Maharashtra police was also in here in this connection.

Hakim was wanted in five cases lodged by the Delhi police in Karol Bagh, Greater Kailash, Tilak Marg and Connaught Place in connection with the serial blasts.

Interrogation revealed that Hakim was known to other IM members, Atif, Shadab, Zeeshan and Assadullah, Mr. Lal said.

A motorcycle, a driving licence and a student identity card were recovered from Hakim, he said.

During the course of investigation into the blasts, five militants — Mohammad Saif, Zeeshan Ahmed, Mohammad Shakeel, Zia-ur-Rehman and Saquib Nisar — were arrested. Two militants died in a shootout in Batla House in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar.

Six terrorists were arrested in Mumbai.

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Strength of Judges per million population may be increased

The Law Commission in its 120th Report recommended that the strength of judges per million population may be increased from 10.5 to 50 judges. The present judge strength in India is 14 per million population (approx.). Government has already increased the Judge strength in the High Courts by 152.

With regard to subordinate judiciary, the Supreme court, in its judgement of 21st March, 2002, in All India Judges’ Association & Ors Vs. Union of India & Ors., directed that an increase in the Judge strength from the existing 10.5 per 10 lakh people to 50 judges per 10 lakh people should be effected and implemented within a period of five years in a phased manner to be determined and directed by the Union Ministry of Law. The Central Government have filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court praying that the increase in judge strength in the Union Territories for which Central Government is administratively responsible be allowed based on workload and pendency of cases. The matter is sub-judice. As directed by the apex court, the Central Government also filed an affidavit indicating the quantum of funds required in compliance of the aforesaid Supreme Court’s judgement irrespective of the category of funds that will be drawn.

All State Governments are also party to this case. Under article 235 of the Constitution of India, the administrative control over the members of subordinate judiciary in the States vests with the concerned High Court and the State Government. Accordingly, the Central Government has requested all the State Governments for taking necessary action to increase the judge strength as per the direction of the Supreme Court and also to fill up the vacant posts of judicial officers on urgent basis.

There is no proposal before the Government to earmark court fee levied by States exclusively for Judicial kitty to augment the strength of Judges.

This Information was given by Minister of Law & Justice, Shri H. R. Bhardwaj in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on April 28, 2008.

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Mumbai police gifted Pakistan ammunition

Mumbai police on Friday gifted Pakistan ammunition to blame the November 26 terror attacks on Indian groups by first saying they wanted to check if the Indian Mujahideen had links with the 10 gunmen and then backing off.

“The demand was erroneously mentioned in the remand application,” joint commissioner (crime) Rakesh Maria said tonight, possibly realising that Pakistan could seize on this to buttress its claim that Indians were behind the Mumbai attacks.

India holds that all the 10 gunmen were Pakistanis trained by the Lashkar, a group nurtured by the ISI, which plotted the Mumbai attacks. Delhi has been pressing Pakistan to hand over the plotters and the trainers.

But earlier in the day, the Mumbai crime branch told a court it wanted to verify if 20 alleged Indian Mujahideen members, in custody for blasts in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore and Varanasi, had ties with the gunmen.

In a remand application filed in court, crime branch officer Ashok Duraphe said a TV channel had aired a phone conversation with gunmen in the Taj hotel during the attacks, in which they were heard asking for the release of Indian Mujahideen members.

“They demanded to set free Indian Mujahideen operatives arrested in connection with the Delhi, Ahmedabad and Surat blasts,” the application said. “Taking into consideration their demand, the possibility of their link to the said recent incidents cannot be ruled out and inquiries to that effect are to be made.”

Six of the 20 accused were produced before the court. The judge extended their judicial custody till January 16.

In the evening, Maria scrambled to control the damage and ended up drawing more attention to the bungle. “We will file a corrigendum in court tomorrow. We will also conduct an internal inquiry,” he said, and stressed there was no link between the Indian Mujahideen and the gunmen.

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