FIU operating at half the staff strength

The government’s elite finance intelligence wing, mandated to detect suspected terror financing in the country, is working at half its sanctioned strength, in stark contrast to the volume of work handled by it. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), under the Union Finance Ministry, has been dealing with sensitive data since it was created in 2004, as the national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information relating to dubious financial transactions.

In the last financial year, the unit headquartered at the national capital saw a 400 per cent rise in reportage of such inputs by various agencies. Only 36 posts have been filled in the unit, although the total sanctioned strength for the wing is 74. At the level of assistant directors, the cutting-edge level of FIU’s intelligence gathering and disseminating functions, only nine posts are operational as compared to the sanctioned 20, according to a latest Finance Ministry report updated till the last financial year.

FIU draws its officers and investigators from the IAS, IRS, Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Department of Legal Affairs and various intelligence agencies. The unit is also functioning at half its strength at the second-in-command level, as only five additional directors are serving, as against the sanctioned 10.