Rejecting the contention of the Directorate that it has been exempted from making disclosures under the Right to Information Act, the Commission has held all such matters now investigated by the Enforcement Directorate come within the definition of allegations of corruption and, hence, should be disclosed.
"The Enforcement Directorate can let the country know as to how much is the total sum of such money they are dealing with in their current investigations.
"This figure can be arrived at through the simple contrivance of aggregating the sums of money in all such investigations currently underway," the commission held in a recent order.
The Bench headed by the then Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah comprising of present CIC A N Tiwari and Information Commissioners Shailesh Gandhi and M L Sharma, however, exempted the directorate from disclosing the nature of such investigations and names of parties involved.
"While
In response to an RTI application filed by V Chandran, the directorate has taken a position that it could not confirm or deny media reports about the likely volume of black money stashed away in foreign banks by Indian nationals.
"This position is, doubtless, defensible, it leaves unanswered the perennial question as to what resources the country has lost to the evil of money laundering.
We would like this matter to be taken beyond technicalities and to address the larger issue related to transparency in this vital field, about which the citizens of our country are keen for answers," the commission said.
Constable held for RTI activist Jethwa's murder
RTI Act turns killer for activists, whistleblowers
Andaleeb appears before Enforcement Directorate
Did a woman reporter cause deaths in Kargil?
Enforcement Directorate summons Koda