White Collar Crimes in India
White Collar Crimes in India
Author : Mrinal Kedar
Introduction:
White-Collar crime also mostly known as Corporate Crime is a term coined and defined by Edwin Hardin Sutherland in 1939, who was an American sociologist and was considered to be one of the most influential criminologists of the 20th century. He defined White-Collar crime as “a crime committed by an individual of respectability and high social station within the course of their occupation”. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines white-collar crime as ” crime that typically involves stealing money from a corporation which is completed by people that have important positions within the company: crime committed by white-collar workers”.
Both the definition gives us 5 components that make up a white-collar crime:
A Crime committed.
By a person in the company.
This person has an important job in the company.
He committed this crime during his job.
This means that he has violated the trust put on him.
In the corporate sector, white-collar crimes are described as non-violent offences, commonly committed by businessmen and government officials. White-Collar crime not only affects the regular people in society but also the criminals.
It is also known as a socio-economic crime because it has an immediate consequence on society. Because when a white-collar crime is perpetrated immense losses on business happen which have an immediate influence on the customers and society. From the past few years, various types of scams and fraud have come into the light such as the 2g scam, banking scam, hawala scam, etc. In consequences of these scams, our country’s economy is in shambles. And to make up for these losses the cost of products is increased putting a burden on the customers with the higher taxes, insurance cost, etc. The frauds not only affect the consumer but also the businesses that produce the product. It increases the cost of the commodities used to make the product, cost of the securities and insurance. All you need is one bad employee and one financial scam to affect the businessperson, investors and the government.
White collar crime in India:
Corruption, scam and bribery are some of the most prevalent white-collar crimes in India as well as everywhere else in the world. One of the business journals published an article saying that in the last 10-12 years, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered a total of 6,533 cases of corruption out of which 517 cases were filed in the preceding two years.
The stats revealed that 4,000 crores value of dealing was carried out employing fraudulent or duplicate PAN cards. Maharashtra also registered an accelerated rise in the number of online cases with 999 cases being recorded.
India has seen advance development in the fields of science, commerce and technology which inadvertently lead towards the development of white-collar crimes in the cyber industry, known as Cybercrime. We will talk about cybercrime in detail further in the article.
India is a developing nation and white-collar crimes are becoming a dominant reason for India to not become a developed nation yet along with hunger, wellness, etc. The inclination of white-collar crimes in India feigns a menace to the financial development of the country. These crimes demand direct intrusion by the government by making stricter laws and making sure that they are implemented properly.
Grounds for the increase of white-collar crimes in India:
There could be various grounds as to why white-collar crimes have inclined in India. Some of them are explained in detail below:
Greed:
Dante, an Italian poet in his 14th-century poem “Inferno” describes what happens to greedy people, hoarders or misers. According to his poem, they suffer in the 4th ring out of 9 rings of hell. Ultimately, what he is trying to say is Greed can never lead a person to do good things. The same is for white-collar crimes. In these crimes, one person of high importance is blinded by greed to commit fraud or scam.
Striving:
Since the beginning of life on earth, all species have competed for survival. This is called survival of the fittest. It is ingrained in our minds to be competitive with each other. This means that even though a person has a high ranking job or high paying job the need to better than the other person is always there and to fulfil those needs some people can take the wrong path.
Absence of severe statutes:
Most of these crimes are committed through cyberspace. Money is transferred through digital methods and because there are no proper statutes to pursue these cases during investigations it becomes difficult to track those transactions. It becomes this hard because it’s committed to the privacy of one’s home or office.
Extremity:
People also perpetrate white-collar crimes to satisfy their requirements and the demands of their household. But the most notable trait that the people of high social rank want to fill is their ego.
Kinds of White Collar Crimes:
There are various kinds of white-collar crimes. Some of them are as given below:
Bank Fraud: Bank fraud is a wrongful act which can be committed in two ways: Firstly, when a person, by unlawful means, withdraws either capital or assets from the bank or Secondly, when a person wrongly represents himself to be an employee of the bank or financial organisation and withdraws capital or assets from the people.
Extortion: Extortion means an order for money by frightening some person to induce bodily injury or revealing his secrets.
Bribery: Bribery is also another kind of white-collar crime where a person in a high-status job demands money, or a service, or something of significance in return to make the other person’s obligation done. For example, if a government officer requires a person to give him a gold necklace and solely then will he be obliged to approve his papers by signing them, it would amount to bribery.
CyberCrime: As the world is developing, technology is also developing along with it and hence the use of it. One such example of technology is the computer and the internet and with that crime related to them. The crimes which include the application of a computer, linked with the usage of the internet are called cybercrime. It is when the computer is utilised for the crime or as a device to commit a crime.
Misappropriation/Embezzlement: When someone consigned with capital or business utilises it for his advantage, it is misappropriation.
Money-Laundering: When a person, turns his illegal money into valid money and thereby supersedes at protecting his illegally acquired money, is supposed to have perpetrated the offence of money laundering. In India “Hawala transaction” is the title provided to the offence of money laundering. Money laundering is defined under Section 3 of the Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Tax scam: Tax evasion is when a person intentionally fakes his status to the authorities to levy a smaller amount of tax. This can either be perpetrated by a person, a business or an organisation. It is a fraudulent way of avoiding taxes.
Punishments for the white-collar crime:
Bank frauds are punishable in India under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Different sections like Section 403 which deals with criminal misappropriation of property, section 405 which deals with criminal breach of trust, section 415 which deals with cheating, section 463 deals with forgery and section 489A deals with the copying of currency, deals with the crime of cheating in banks.
The punishment for bribery has been rendered under Section 171E of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 which says that any person who commits such an offence would be imprisoned for a term which may extend to 1 year or with fine or both. Also, Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has punished acts forming an offence under this head, being engaged in by public officials.
The only law which dispenses with the offences related to cybercrime is the Information Technology Act, 2000. The precise meaning of cybercrime hasn’t been given in any of the acts or laws as it is not likely to define such a type of crime where computer and internet are involved.
The crime of tax evasion is punishable under Chapter XXII of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which can inflict a heavy amount of fine or even grant you to jail.
Conclusion:
India is a developing nation and will soon become a developed nation but not without some help from its citizens. We all need to do our best to make that happen because “Rome wasn’t build in a day.”. We need to pay our taxes diligently and be loyal in the work and position we have. But if white-collar crimes remain in our country then it is not possible because white-collar crimes affect our economy which then affects the development of our nation and then to restore the economy government has to increase the cost of products and taxes. In short, it is a chain reaction where white-collar crime acts as a catalyst. Therefore, there is a need for stricter laws in place against any type of white-collar crime.
