NEW DELHI: The scope of probe in cases relating to black money is likely to expand with the government keen on giving powers to customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to register cases under anti-money laundering Act. As of now, only the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registers cases under the Act.

According to sources, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has written to department of revenue to give powers to customs and DRI to register cases under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and a decision is likely to be taken soon.

Sources said the need was felt in the context of the view that export-import frauds make up a major chunk of black money generation in the country. They also play a role in stashing of black money abroad and bringing the same back as white through circuitous transactions. Also, internationally it is common for customs authorities to have powers to investigate money laundering cases.

Customs and DRI regularly make cases of import-export fraud but are forced to limit their action to realization of revenue and have to pass on information on money laundering to ED. DRI, being an intelligence agency, is also custodian of a large amount of inputs on black money. But it cannot initiate action but pass on information to ED. The latter, say sources, is too short-staffed to justifiably address the massive challenge of black money generation in various businesses. The total sanctioned strength of ED is 2,064 but there are only 660 people currently working in the agency.

Sources say the end result is that investigations get delayed and the objective of clamping down on black money generation and circulation is pushed away. "When DRI and customs are registering cases of export-import frauds, it makes little sense to transfer the money laundering aspect of it to another agency which is already overburdened. It also creates an unnecessary layer of investigation delaying the whole process. Conversely, the strength of customs and DRI is far greater and officers are equally trained to deal with PMLA. Across the world, in developed economies, all customs authorities have these powers," said a CBEC official.

DRI has been regularly providing inputs related to money laundering in various businesses to Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money; it might as well investigate them, said the official.