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New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) Former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Saturday said perhaps unintentional financial crimes need to be treated differently from premeditated crimes motivated by greed.
Addressing the TPF-Deitywa: National Legal Conference on Combating White-Collar Crime organized by Terapanth Professional Forum (TPF) at Bharat Mandapam, former CJI Khanna said that though ignorance of law cannot be a defense to committing financial crimes, “crimes committed without malicious intent cannot be equated with crimes motivated by greed and premeditated”.
Classifying financial crimes into different categories, the former CJI said that the most serious crimes among white-collar crimes are motivated by greed and include cases of fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, money laundering and bribery or corruption.
He said there is a prevalent perception that law enforcement agencies exist to harass rather than help and that this fear prevents people from approaching them, allowing cyber criminals to take advantage of the situation and harass individuals digitally.
“Instead of seeking justice, many people pay off their oppressors out of fear,” he said, adding, “Now is the time for law enforcement to become more accessible and raise public awareness, a two-way process that can truly help address the problem.”
He described white-collar crime as “an emerging threat that destroys the moral fabric of society” and called for greater sensitivity in enforcing financial laws.
“Every act or failure to act that has financial implications cannot be viewed from the same perspective,” he said, urging lawmakers to distinguish between intentional fraud, unintentional error and procedural lapse.
He said, “The strength of the justice system lies not in the severity of punishment but in the certainty of justice.”
TPF national convenor Raj Kumar Nahata said, “White collar crime is not a victimless crime. Every scam snatches away opportunities from us, every fraud delays our development.”
He said that in view of this, there is an urgent need for the professional class to be prepared to take up new responsibilities by becoming collective whistleblowers, guardians of morality and guardians of our nation/moral wealth.
Bringing a public health perspective, Dr Poonam Khetrapal, IAS (Retd) and Regional Director Emeritus, WHO South-East Asia Region, said white-collar crime in healthcare is not just about money; It’s about life and faith.
He said, “When poor quality care is knowingly provided, when the poor are denied treatment despite eligibility, and when safety rules are ignored for the sake of profit, it is no longer negligence. It becomes a white-collar crime.”
Citing a landmark global study, Dr Khetrapal said poor quality health care causes 8.6 million preventable deaths globally every year, including 1.6 million deaths in India. He called for “strong forensic auditing, health outcomes tracking, regulatory performance indicators and judicial oversight” and said accountability “must follow the money – from the boardroom to the approval desk.”
Offering an economic perspective, National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan said that as societies become more affluent, “crimes become more whitewashed.”
Quoting comments of a senior judge, he said the ratio of violent and commercial crimes has reversed in two decades, from 80 per cent physical crime to 80 per cent financial or cyber crime. He said, “Today money is not stolen from pockets but from the system. UPI has removed cash, but not corruption. It has only made theft digital.”
The TPF-DEITWA conference was attended by over a thousand professionals from the world of law, finance, medicine and academia to discuss the evolving statutory framework to address ethics, compliance, governance and financial crimes – in line with India’s vision of ‘Develop India 2047’.
As the day ended, a unifying message echoed across all sessions: India’s journey towards development will remain incomplete without restoring public trust and integrity in institutions. As Justice Khanna succinctly put it, white-collar crime “challenges not only the boundaries of law but also the conscience of governance.”
–IANS
RCH/SKP