White Collar Crime

Discussion and suggestions for eradication of white-collar criminality

Dr. ASHISH SHRIVASTAVA

Today there are many anti-social activities in society. Those who, despite being punishable, remain deprived of punishment due to secrecy. The fundamental question is why punishment is not given for these anti-social acts.

In the present age, crimes are committed by these persons, who have high status in society. This type of lawlessness in society is a matter of concern and can destroy society any day. This increasing crime trend in society is called 'white collar crime'.

Many persons of the prestigious class of society do such acts in the course of their business, which cause criminal harm to society. In fact, in terms of consequences, these acts are many times more serious than normal crimes, Mr. Sutherland has termed such acts as 'white-collar crime'.

Many scholars have expressed their views and studied white-collar crime. As a result of which its definitions have been written, the main legal scholars are as follows:- Sutherland, Cassie, Walter, C. Reckless, D. R. Taft, etc.

In the characteristics of white-collar crimes, we have always seen that white-collar crimes are always implemented and operated by persons of alleged prestige and high social status during their business. They always try to hide their criminal acts. He tries to hide his crime in such a way that the person who is hurt does not feel that he has really been harmed.

The white-collar criminal considers himself to be outside the law. Cases related to white-collar crime are not decided under the general court of civil or criminal, on the contrary, they are decided in a special type of judicial system, which is related to an administrative committee and a court subordinate to civil equivalent justice authority. Due to the higher socio-economic and political status of white-collar criminals, they cannot be prosecuted properly. This crime is actually an organized crime.

White-collar criminals are often equated to court judges, advocates, and legislators. Therefore, they keep influencing the governance system, police system, and judicial system.

Even if any charges are filed against them, the government system not only remains silent towards them like a tortoise but also shows a sense of indifference, therefore it is difficult to arrest and punish such criminals.

The ramifications of white-collar crime are massive. As a result of which its impact on the individual is less often, due to which its seriousness is not disclosed to the general public. This is the reason why society does not adopt a strict policy toward these crimes.

The analysis of white-collar criminality is highly confidential and factual, indicating its covert and hidden nature. A white-collar crime is a white-collar crime as long as the white collar is under the cover of clothing.

The reasons for white-collar crime mainly include the following reasons:

(1) White-collar crimes are rooted in the root of the capitalist economy, that is, the more powerful the capitalist economy is. The more powerful the white-collar crimes, the more complex they white-collar crimes.

(2) Party's increasing attraction to money and the tendency of greediness are among the causes of white-collar criminality.

(3) Inequality of distribution of economic resources.

(4) Tendency to collect materialistic things.

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(5) Tendency of class consciousness.

(6) There is only white-collar criminality in adopting any path to success.

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(7) The closer the industrialists, businessmen, businessmen, and officials have to the political system, police system, and judicial system, the more will be their motivation to commit white-collar crimes.

(8) The more the attitude of the general public towards giving respect to white-collar criminals, the more white-collar crimes will be in society.

(9) Its emphasis remains on the disintegration of society.

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According to Sutherland, the area of white-collar crime is so wide that it is very difficult to say that there are such parts of human life in which such crimes do not occur. In general, the major forms of white-collar crime can be presented as follows:

(i) White-collar crimes committed by individuals on an ad-hoc basis at the individual level.

(ii) White-collar crimes in the commercial sector.

(iii) White-collar crime in the business sector.

(a) White-collar crime in the medical profession.

(b) White-collar crime in the legal profession.

(c) White-collar crime in the engineering profession.

(d) White-collar crimes in bureaucracy and bureaucracy.

(e) White-collar crime in the police jurisdiction.

(f) White-collar crime in local self-government.

(g) White-collar crime in a religious setting.

(h) White-collar crimes in the political field.

(i) White-collar crime in educational institutions.

White-collar crime is increasing in India.

The cross of white-collar crime is very vast. Every class of person is affected by today's extremely materialistic environment, whether it is a businessman, businessman, advocate, doctor, publisher, government employee, officer or employee, engineer or contractor, religious leader or religious follower, and so-called avatar man Whether it is Mahatma Pujari or Panda Principal or Administrator with a great desire to satisfy materialistic desires, they are helping in increasing white-collar criminality by behaving fraudulently, deceitfully and in an eloquent manner for the purpose of earning more money in their business.

White-collar crimes are thought of well by upper-class people for committing them in the course of their business. White-collar crimes are committed intentionally and not out of provocation or ignorance.

Hence, Sutherland has drawn similarities between white-collar criminals and professional criminals. Both types of criminals break the law more than once, having committed these crimes more times than they are caught. Both types of criminals commit crimes in a planned and organized manner.

Apart from the similarities, there are also many differences.

The status of a professional criminal is that of a criminal in society, while the status of a white-collar criminal is that of a wealthy person with a high status in society.

Ordinary criminals are looked upon with hatred, while white-collar criminals, due to their secrecy, gain respect and love in society.

White-collar criminals have access everywhere or should say that everywhere they occupy high positions, so the presence or absence of complaints against them has the same effect.

They are dominated on a large scale in India and other countries. Based on the evaluation and details of the surveys, we see that in India Bofors scandal, Guarantee scam, Pink gram scandal, Harshad Mehta scandal, Former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao ji (prosecuted for white collar), Hawala scandal, Urea scam scandal, Vihar Corruption and Cattle Fodder Scam Case of Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalithaa corruption and Assam Chief Minister Shri Prafulla Kumar Mahonto have been accused by Tata Tea Company for helping extremists, Rafale scam, etc.

You can see the list of scams in India (from the year 1948 till now) :

Since independence, there has been a history of big scams in the country. Below is a brief description of the major scams in India-

Jeep bought (1948)

After independence, the Government of India made a deal with a London company for 2000 jeeps. The deal was worth Rs 80 lakh. But only 155 Jeeps could be found. In the scam, the then-Indian High Commissioner to Britain V.K. The involvement of Krishna Menon came to the fore. But in 1955 the case was closed. Menon soon joined the Nehru cabinet. Recovery could not be done even with Rs 1.

Bicycle Import (1951)

The then Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, S.A. Venkataraman accepted a bribe in lieu of giving a bicycle import quota to a company. For this, he had to go to jail, and there was no recovery in this also.

Mundhra Mess (1958)

A case involving Rs 1.2 crore of Life Insurance Corporation of India in six companies set up by Haridas Mundhra came to light. In this, the names of the then Finance Minister TT Krishnamachari, Finance Secretary HM Patel, and LIC Chairman LS Vaidyanathan came up. Krishnamachari had to resign and Mundhra had to go to jail, but there was no recovery.

Quick loan

In 1960, a businessman, Dharam Teja, took a loan of Rs 22 crore from the government to start a shipping company. But later the money was sent out of the country. He was arrested in Europe and imprisoned for six years, but could not recover even in this.

Patnaik case

In 1961, the Chief Minister of Orissa, Biju Patnaik was forced to resign. He was accused of helping his privately owned company 'Kalinga Tubes' to get a government contract.

Maruti scam

Before the formation of the Maruti Company, there was a scam in which the name of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came up. In this case, Sanjay Gandhi helped to get the license to manufacture passenger cars.

Kuo Oil Deal

In 1976, in view of falling oil prices, the Indian Oil Corporation entered into an oil deal with a shell company in Hong Kong. In this, the Government of India lost 13 crores. It is believed that Indira and Sanjay Gandhi also have a hand in this scam.

Antulay Trust

A cement scam happened in Maharashtra in 1981. The then Maharashtra Chief Minister, AR Antulay, was accused of giving away cement, which was meant for the welfare of the people, to private builders.

HDW Brokerage (1987)

German submarine builder HDW was blacklisted. The matter was that he had given 20 crore rupees as a commission. The case was closed in 2005. The verdict was in favor of HDW.

Bofors scam

In 1987, many fleet leaders including Rajiv Gandhi were implicated in the case of taking bribes from a Swedish company Bofors AB. The matter was that the Indian 155 mm. In the bid for field howitzers, the leaders have embezzled about Rs 64 crore.

Security Scam (Harshad Mehta Case)

In 1992, Harshad Mehta fraudulently invested the money of banks in the stock market, causing a loss of about Rs 5000 crore to the stock market.

Indian Bank

In 1992, small corporates and exporters borrowed around Rs 13,000 crore from the bank. He never returned this money. At that time the chairman of the bank was M. Gopalakrishnan.

Fodder scam

In 1996, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then Chief Minister of Bihar caught the fodder scam and handed over the investigation to the CBI after registering an FIR. This scam was going on since the Chief Ministership of former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra. It is said that the CBI came under political pressure and implicated Lalu Prasad Yadav in the case only on the basis of testimony. Jagannath Mishra was also convicted in the fodder scam, but due to political clout, he got bail, while Lalu Prasad was not given even though his health was extremely bad.

Tehelka

This online news portal caught army officers and politicians taking bribes through a sting operation. It has come to the fore that 15 defense deals signed by the government are full of scams and the Barak missile deal with Israel is also one of them.

Stock Market

Stock broker Ketan Parikh scammed the stock market to the tune of Rs 1,15,000 crore. He was arrested in December 2002.

Stamp Paper Scam

It was a scam of fake stamp papers worth crores of rupees. The mastermind running this racket was Abdul Karim Telgi.

Satyam Scam

In 2008, Ramalinga Raju, the founder chairman of Satyam Computers, the country's fourth largest software company, came to the fore for a scam of Rs 8,000 crore. Raju admitted that he had fudged the company's accounts for the last seven years.

Money Laundering

In 2009, Madhu Koda was found guilty of money laundering of Rs 4,000 crore. Madhu Koda's assets included hotels, three companies, property in Calcutta, a hotel in Thailand, and a coal mine in Liberia.

Process in some scams:-

Bofors scam - Rs 64 crore.

Case registered - 22 January 1990
Punishment - no
recovery - nil

HD W Submarine - Rs 32 crore.

Case registered - March 5, 1990
(The CBI has now sought permission to close the case.)
Punishment - no
recovery - nil

(Rs 465 crores to buy 4 submarines from Germany in 1981. In this case, only 2 submarines arrived in 1987, and the commission of about Rs 32 crores by the people associated with the defense deal became clear.)

Stock market scam - Rs 4100 crore.

Cases registered - 72 between 1992 and 1997
Punishment - total 4 including Harshad Mehta (death after 1 year of sentence)
recovery - nil

(The government gave Rs 6625 crores to compensate the looted banks and investors in this scam done by Harshad Mehta, whose burden also fell on the taxpayers.)

Airbus scam – Rs 120 crore.

Case registered - March 3, 1990
punishment - none yet
recovery - nil

(Deal to buy Boeing 757 from France still in limbo, money not returned)

Fodder scam - Rs 950 crore

Cases registered - 64 since 1996
Punishment - only one government employee
recovery - nil

(In this case, former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav has gone to jail 6 times though)

Telecom scam - Rs 1200 crore

Case registered - 1996
Conviction - One, pending appeal in High Court
Recovery - Rs 5.36 crore

(Rs 5.36 crore cash was recovered from him during the raid in this scam by the then Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, which has been seized. But the house in Ghaziabad (Rs 1.2 crore), jewelry (about Rs 10 crore) Everything remained the same including bank deposits (Rs 5 lakh), house in Shimla and Mandi. According to sources, Sukhram was found to have 600 times more wealth than his known sources.)

Urea scam - Rs 133 crore

Case registered - 26 May 1996
punishment - none yet
recovery - nil

(C.S. Ramakrishnan, managing director of National Fertilizer, close to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, provided money for urea imports, which never arrived.)

CRB - Rs 1030 crore

Case registered - 20 May 1997
Punishment - none
recovery - nil

(Chan Roop Bhansali (CRB) duped 1 lakh investors of about Rs 1,300 crore and now he himself is seeking a package from the government for his rehabilitation by appealing in the court.)

KP - Rs 3200 crore

Cases registered - 3 cases in 2001
sentence - not yet
recovery - nil

In today's environment of India, a large number of scams are crying out to be the saga of white-collar criminality. Today there is no such department in India that has survived the epidemic of this disease.

It has hit all areas, whose examples are visible every day in the form of printed news in newspapers, which the general public is still unable to understand?

The consequences of white-collar criminality, despite being very serious and serious, seem to be insignificant because it affects the entire human race, not a particular person, that is, its personal effect is almost minimal due to the side effects falling on the entire large area.

In short, we can present the ill effects of white-collar crime as follows:

(1) As a result of this distrust of the administration in general
There is an outbreak of the feeling of it is dangerous for the public system.

(2) Due to white-collar fraud, the tendency of bribery, black marketing, corruption, fraud, fraud, business manipulation, and misbehavior with the workers increases in society.

The judicial approach towards white-collar crime is not as harsh as it is towards ordinary crimes. The cases related to white-collar crimes are tried in the civil courts, while the cases of professional criminals are tried by the courts of criminal law.

Sutherland says that it is true that these offenses are decided by administrative tribunals, bureaus, or commissions, but all these tribunals decide only certain violations of bureau and commission law. If most of these cases were decided by the court, they would probably have been punished. Suggestions for Eradication of White-collar Crime:

White-collar crime has a close relationship with human crime. White-collar crimes have existed to a greater or lesser extent in every society from ancient times to modern times. That's why it is said that white-collar crime is universal. Following are some of the major measures to solve this problem:

(1) Building of National Character:

White-collar crime is the problem of character degeneration prevailing in the citizens of any country. To solve this problem, priority should be given to character building in citizens. The following works should be encouraged for character building in the citizens of any country.

(a) To develop a personality.
(b) Importance of community building.
(c) Development of National Building.

(2) Political Reforms:

White-collar crime is closely related to the political structure. The number of white-collar crimes can be reduced by encouraging the following reforms in political life.

(a) Determination of ability for leadership.
(b) discouragement of cheap leadership.
(c) Development of moral level in political parties.
(d) Development of public awareness.
(e) Formulation of ethical code for leadership.

(3) Improvement in the educational system (Change in Educational System):

The following reforms in the educational system help in reducing white-collar crimes:

(a) Vocational education.
(b) Arrangement of independent education in all faculties.
(c) Moral education.
(d) character education.
(e) Development of educational awareness.
(f) Changes in the traditional education system.

(4) Economic Development of the Country:

White-collar crime is a type of crime that is closely related to the economy of any country. The number of white-collar crimes can be reduced by making changes in the economy, such as:

(a) Employment facilities.
(b) Development of business ethics
(c) End of monopoly.
(d) Eradication of poverty and permit system.

(5) Criminal law should be considered and contemplated afresh. Fundamental changes will have to be made in the law applicable to criminal behavior especially related to property and wealth. Minor reforms will not work to destroy criminal behavior.

(6) In criminal law, strict punishment should be arranged for much criminal behavior like dishonesty, tax evasion, monopoly tendency, and mismanagement of public property and the standard of punishment should be decided according to the seriousness of the crimes. The penalty should be at least ten times the economic loss.

(7) By making appropriate amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, this arrangement should be made so that the criminals should not be able to take advantage of their reputation while convicting the white-collar criminals in court.

The system of preventive punishment is very important for white-collar criminals. For white-collar criminals, minor offenses generate disregard for justice and infamy. In place of fines, there should be a system of abduction of property, termination of privileges, termination of political rights, and punishment in the form of punishment. In the case of politicians, if convicted, they should be disenfranchised so that their political career can be put to death. Along with this, the property of politicians should be confiscated even if it has been acquired in the name of other persons.

(8) Corporations habitual of white-collar crimes should be fined equally to a major portion of their total capital investment. Which will be like a death sentence to the interests of that corporation.

(9) Other suggestions: The following other suggestions are important to eliminate white-collar crimes:

(a) Administrative reforms.
(b) Public condemnation of white-collar crimes.
(c) System of severe punishment.
(d) Legal knowledge to the public.
(e) Development of awareness among the public.
(f) Development of group spirit.
(g) Development of philanthropic feelings.
(h) Development of welfare institutions.

So in this way, we see that the subject of white-collar criminality is equally important even today and is a subject of research.

Therefore, to destroy this crime completely, a lot of work can be done on it through research and other commendable suggestions can be given.

Reference :

(1) White collar crime - E. S. Sutherland
(2) Criminology Problems - Ahmed Siddiqui and Prospects
(3) White Collar Crime - Deep and Deep Publications
(4) Principles of Criminology - Dr. Shyamdhar Singh
(5) Criminology and Criminal Administration - Dr. M. S. Chauhan
(6) Criminology - Dr.S. Baghel
(7) Social crime - Dr. N. B. Paranjape
(8) Criminology - Dr. N. B. Paranjape
(9) Google Wikipedia
(10) India Today, Competition Darpan, Political Law Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Crime in India and Outlook, etc.

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