CBI gets silver notice published at Interpol against man wanted for visa fraud

India Today

2 days ago

The CBI has got the first silver notice published through Interpol against an accused who is wanted in a visa fraud case. The silver notice is a colour-coded notice introduced by Interpol in January this year to track the movement of illicit assets across the globe.On May 23, Interpol issued the first silver notice on CBI's request against Shubham Shokeen, a former personnel visa and local law officer at one of the embassies of a foreign country located in Delhi. From September 2019 to May 2022, he conspired with other accused and facilitated the issuance of Schengen visas to the visa applicants by collecting illegal gratification ranging from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 45 lakh from each visa applicant.advertisementShokeen acquired six immovable properties worth 7,760,500 Dirhams (Rs 15.73 crore) in Dubai as proceeds of the crime. Earlier, the CBI also got a blue notice published against him by Interpol to trace his whereabouts.
Interpol issues nine types of colour-coded notices, with each meant for seeking specific information from member countries worldwide. For instance, red is for detaining a fugitive, blue for seeking additional information, black for unidentified bodies and yellow for missing persons.Interpol has launched a silver notice, which enables countries to share alerts and requests for information on assets of wanted criminals worldwide. Through silver notices and diffusions, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person's criminal activities, such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime and other serious offences.The move will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.advertisementCurrently, the silver notice has been launched as part of a pilot phase, involving 51 countries and territories, which will run at least until November 2025. As part of the pilot phase, each country can get nine silver notices published. India has already submitted requests for publication of silver notices in cases being investigated by CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).CBI GOT SILVER NOTICE PUBLISHED OF ANOTHER ACCUSEDOn Monday, the CBI got a silver notice published against one accused named Amit Madanlal Lakhanpal at the request of the ED. Lakhanpal is accused of creating digital/cryptocurrency by the name of MTC, which is not recognized in India, for his own financial gains.He allegedly lured and induced the investors and collected funds of about Rs 113.10 crore from them towards investment in MTC. He did so without the prior requisite permission and licence from the government or RBI in accordance with the law. Ultimately, he did not return the invested amount as promised by him at the time of collecting the investments.Lakhanpal embezzled the said collected funds and cheated the investors financially. To fortify his intentions to lure the people and to cheat them, he impersonated an authorised representative of the Finance Ministry. Earlier, a red notice was also published against him through Interpol.(with inputs from PTI)