White Collar Crime Litigation/Law Firm in Delhi NCR

Aegis Legal is one of the litigation firm in Delhi NCR which has very extensive practice of criminal law, especially white Collar Crime litigation in Delhi. The founder partner of the firm Mr A K Singh advocate is known as noted criminal lawyer of India, who heads criminal practice of the firm. Under his guidance the firm has been engaged in many high-profile criminal cases and trial across India.

White-collar crime is a non-violent crime often characterized by deceit or concealment to obtain or avoid losing money or property, or to gain a personal or business advantage.
Examples of white-collar crimes include securities fraud, embezzlement, corporate fraud, and money laundering. Entities that investigate white-collar crime include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and state authorities.

Corporate Fraud
Corporate frauds in India encompass various forms of deception and financial misrepresentation by companies, impacting organizations, stakeholders, and the public. These frauds can range from simple financial manipulations to complex schemes, often involving significant economic consequences. Examples include the Harshad Mehta scam, the Satyam scandal, the Saradha Chit Fund scam, and the Sahara Fraud Case.

There are many consequences as well in the corporate loss as well which are; there can be a huge financial loss suffered by the organization due to such fraudulent activities, due to such corporate frauds there can be also damage to the reputation to the organization and can harm to the investor’s confidence with the company/organization. Such corporate frauds can also cause a huge impact on the economic status of the market. Corporate fraud is punishable under section 447 of the Companies Act,2013

Asset Misappropriation:
Asset misappropriation, the theft or misuse of an organization's assets, is a significant concern in India and globally. It can involve cash schemes like skimming and cash larceny, or non-cash schemes like stealing inventory or equipment. Preventing asset misappropriation requires strong internal controls, ethical leadership, and employee training. Asset Misappropriation can also be divided into different branches i.e., theft of the cash, misuses of the company property, inflated expense reports etc.

Insider Trading
Insider trading involves buying or selling a company's securities (like stocks or bonds) based on non-public, material information about that company. This information is not yet available to the general public and could significantly impact the company's stock price. Using this privileged knowledge to make investment decisions is considered unethical and often illegal.

In India, penalties for insider trading range from hefty fines to imprisonment, depending on the severity of the violation and the profits made. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) can impose fines ranging from ₹10 lakh to ₹25 crore or three times the profit made, whichever is higher. Additionally, individuals can face criminal prosecution, which may include imprisonment and disbarment from the securities market.

Embezzlement
Embezzlement of cash, a form of financial fraud, involves misappropriating funds that were entrusted to a person or entity for a specific purpose and using them for personal gain. This means taking money that the person legitimately has access to but uses for their own benefit, rather than for the intended purpose. Embezzlement is a punishable offence under section 409 IPC/316 BNS 2023, “whoever commits breach of trust shall be punished with imprisonment of either for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.”

Counterfeiting
In criminal law, counterfeiting is the act of illegally imitating or replicating an authentic product, money, or document with the intent to deceive and defraud. It involves creating something that closely resembles the genuine item to pass it off as legitimate, often for profit or to gain an unfair advantage.

MONEY LAUNDERING
The traces of the issue of money laundering can be seen post second world war. During the time, the criminal law criminalized the acts which were considered as crimes without victims for example like drugs as they generated immense profits to the accused. Thereupon to obviate the threats and in order to prevent money laundering and activities connected to it, The Prevention of Money-Laundering Bill, 1998 was introduced and it came into the statute books as The Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 and came into force on 01.07.2005.The objective of this Act was to prevent money laundering and to provide for the confiscation of the properties that have been derived from or involved in the money laundering.

The authority governing the offences related to the offences of money laundering is the Enforcement Directorate. It is responsible to carry out the investigation and prosecute for the offences under the Act. There are special courts and tribunal set up for the trial of money laundering known as the ‘Adjudicating Authority’ and the ‘Appellate Tribunal’.

Section 3-Offence of Money Laundering:
The Act defines money laundering under section 3 of the Act, to be a process of converting the illegally earned money as legitimate source of money i.e. any activity in connection with the proceeds of crime including the concealment, acquisition, possession or use and projecting it to be untainted property. The Act criminalizes the act of laundering and provides the procedure for seizure and forfeiture of the property/ money obtained from the proceeds of crime. The relevant portion of the section is produced here as under:

3. Offence of money-laundering.—Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the 1 [proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and projecting or claiming] it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering. 2 [Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that,— (i) a person shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering if such person is found to have directly or indirectly attempted to indulge or knowingly assisted or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in one or more of the following processes or activities connected with proceeds of crime, namely:— (a) concealment; or (b) possession; or (c) acquisition; or (d) use; or (e) projecting as untainted property; or (f) claiming as untainted property, in any manner whatsoever; (ii) the process or activity connected with proceeds of crime is a continuing activity and continues till such time a person is directly or indirectly enjoying the proceeds of crime by its concealment or possession or acquisition or use or projecting it as untainted property or claiming it as untainted property in any manner whatsoever.]”

Section 4-Punishment for Money Laundering:
This section of the Act lays down the punishment for the act of money laundering to be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for not less than 3 years which may be extended to 7 years and to be liable with the fine.

“4. Punishment for money-laundering.—Whoever commits the offence of money-laundering shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine 3 ***: Provided that where the proceeds of crime involved in money-laundering relates to any offence specified under paragraph 2 of Part A of the Schedule, the provisions of this section shall have effect as if for the words “which may extend to seven years”, the words “which may extend to ten years” had been substituted.”

Section 5: Attachment of property involved in the money laundering:
Section 5 of the Act primarily deals with the attachment of the property. It permits the authorities to provisionally attach the property which is suspected to be involved in the money laundering and is the proceeds of crime provided that the authorities have a reason to believe that the property might be concealed, transferred or dealt in a way that it would frustrate the confiscation proceedings. The provisional attachment is made for 180 days and the officer is to file a complaint before the Adjudicating Authority within 30 days.

The provisional attachment do not prevent the interested person from continuing their possession from it, meaning thereby the person can still enjoy his property despite it has been attached by the authorities.

Section 8: Adjudication:
Section 8 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) deals with adjudication of money laundering cases. It outlines the procedure for the Adjudicating Authority to determine if properties are involved in money laundering and for the confiscation or release of those properties.

We are one of the litigation firm in Delhi NCR which has very extensive practice of criminal law, especially white Collar Crime litigation in Delhi. Our litigation team has best white collar crime lawyers in Delhi, Best criminal lawyers in Delhi India. The founder partner of the firm Mr A K Singh advocate is known as noted criminal lawyer of India, who heads criminal practice of the firm. Under his guidance the firm has been engaged in many high-profile criminal cases and trial across India.