Govt to bring legislation to ban Ponzi schemes: CBI chief Anil Sinha

NEW DELHI: With Ponzi schemes of over Rs 1.2 lakh crores being probed by CBI, government will shortly bring a bill in Parliament to stop illegal deposit schemes, the probe agency Chief Anil Sinha said here today.

Addressing 22nd Conference of CBI and State anti-corruption bodies, he said the conference would also deliberate on the legislative and regulatory gaps that have led to widespread growth of Ponzi schemes across the country in which crores of innocent citizens have been cheated.

"CBI investigations into these scams have enabled us to identify the weaknesses in existing laws and regulations which have been exploited by the scamsters. We have been actively engaged with the Government of India in bringing a new legislation to ban these illegal deposit taking activities," Sinha said.


The CBI Director said the discussions with all states would go a long way in giving strength to the new legislation which may be introduced in Parliament shortly.

"The government has taken the challenge of corruption and black money head on by initiating several bold measures. It is my fervent hope that the deliberations of this Conference will lead to actionable outcomes so that the fight against corruption and crime is waged more strongly across the country and beyond our individual jurisdictions," he said.

One session in the conference is devoted to deliberations on establishing a National Anti-Corruption Citizen Support Centre which would provide a 24x7 single point of contact for citizens, Sinha said.

"Hopefully, the discussions will be fruitful and we can go to the government very shortly with a concrete proposal for establishing this centre. This will be a landmark initiative in empowering citizens to fight corruption," he said.