Agents will have the power to seize funds, assets of those engaged in terrorist financing (representation)
New Delhi:
The Home Office has appointed 44 senior officials from central, state and Union territory governments, in addition to entities like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to serve as the nodal authority for seizing funds. and other financial assets held by anyone who engages in or supports terrorism.
In accordance with the official memorandum of the Ministry’s Counterterrorism and Counter-Radicalization Unit, Nodal Agents have been appointed for the implementation of Section 51 (A) of the Illegal Activities Act 1967 (prevention) (UAPA), under which the powers of the central government are delegated to state, immigration and regulatory authorities to freeze, seize or tie funds or economic resources under the laws anti-terrorism.
Nodal agents have been appointed from among regulatory authorities – RBI, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDA), SEBI, and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) – which provide a list of designated persons and entities to banks, stock exchanges and companies. insurance for block funds, financial assets of those designated under the anti-terrorism law.
“The 44 node officers who have been appointed will assist law enforcement in seizing funds and other financial assets held by anyone engaged in terrorism or supporting such violent acts,” said a senior ministry official. Interior at GalacticGaming.
After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the UAPA anti-terrorism law was amended to insert section 51 (A) to allow states and regulatory authorities to seize and freeze the assets of individuals and entities engaged in the terrorism.
The Ministry of External Affairs provides a list of individuals and entities, subject to UN sanction, which is also shared by the Ministry of the Interior with states and Union territories, added the responsible.
Recently, the anti-terrorist investigation agency NIA seized a number of properties owned by Kashmiri separatist leaders and those found to have supported terrorist activities with illicit money in the northeast, including an MLA . Likewise, various state police forces have also attached funds and property to people supporting terrorism in the past.
