Policing, not policy making, know your limits: Chidu tells CBI

In a speech that mirrored the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today told the CBI that it should ‘tread carefully’ and respect the line between policy making and policing. “I would caution investigating agencies to respect the line that divides policy making and policing… If there is no prescribed rule then it is not the business of the investigating agency to lay down a rule of conduct or prescribe one,” Chidambaram said while speaking at an international conference on corruption organised by the CBI.

 “If there is a policy behind the rule, it is not the business of the investigating agency to suggest a better policy,” the finance minister said. Chidambaram said that an investigating agency should confine itself to checking whether any rule has been violated. “There are a number of cases in which investigating agencies like the CAG have overstepped their limits and attempted to convert executive decisions into crimes,” he said. Chidambaram said investigating agencies should know their limits. PTI He also advised that agencies such as the CBI should not jump to conclusions that a business decision is a criminal one without sufficient evidence. Chidambaram, who was the Home Minister before he became the Finance Minister, also defended the agency saying that it was not a caged parrot.

 “There are several myths of the CBI being a caged parrot and being Congress Bureau of Investigation, none of these are correct,” he said. The Finance Minister also commented on the investigating agencies ongoing battle for autonomy saying that it was often portraying itself as a victim before the Supreme Court. “In a lighter vein I may say that sometimes CBI itself pretends to be a victim to get autonomy,” he said. CBI is a part of the executive government and is is as much bound by general rules as other wings of the government, Chidambaram said. “Functional autonomy does not mean that you (CBI) are free from general rules,” he said. He also spoke about how the investigating agency could improve in tackling financial crimes by hiring professionals from across sectors. 

CBI must employ lawyers, accountants and other professionals and train them about tackling crime and highly educated police officials should be trained in other areas of finance as well, Chidambaram said. “There are usually three groups of persons involved in financial crimes… Any thorough investigation must uncover all groups of persons involved in a conspiracy. All of them must face punishment,” he said. It was important for the investigating agency to ensure all persons involved in a financial crime are brought to justice, the Finance Minister said.

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