With the graph of economic crimes on the rise, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plans to recruit more chartered accountants and bankers.

“Specialist investigators will be inducted for cases of banking and other economic frauds,” CBI sources said, adding that newer kinds of economic offences were coming up, such as those related to the national rural employment guarantee scheme.

The banking sector alone lost as much as Rs 1,883 crore and Rs 2,017 crore during 2008-09 and 2009-10, respectively. These include over 200 frauds of above Rs 1 crore during each year, according to the CBI.

DIRECT RECRUITMENT

The country's top investigating agency, which is facing a manpower crunch, is also considering direct recruitment of staff instead on relying on States. This is because many deputation quotas from the States are still lying vacant.

Of the 4,802 posts sanctioned for executive and prosecution staff, 1,064 have not been filled up. “Fifty per cent of these are supposed to be filled from the States, but State-level officers are reluctant to come to the Centre since they stand to lose out on facilities such as accommodation, vehicles and other fringe benefits,” sources said. This is despite States willing to let them go.

As of now, the number of pending cases with the CBI is about 900. Of these, about 200 are pending prosecution sanction, mainly because of manpower crunch. Of the 10,000 cases under trial, 384 have been going on since 20 years. “Our first priority is to take up these 384 cases. This should happen by July 31 after more CBI courts are in place,” sources said. The investigating agency is also going in for massive modernisation. Training will be given priority. For this, the academy in Ghaziabad is being modernised and Interpol-aided courses have been introduced. (The Hindu)