Fema a civil law, RBI alone can compound offences, says ED

NEW DELHI: ED Thursday reiterated that Fema is primarily a civil legislation that through Section 15 provides for compounding of contraventions to facilitate voluntary compliance, reduce litigation and ensure expeditious disposal of cases, except those involving serious crimes like money laundering, terror financing and affecting country’s sovereignty and integrity.“In all cases, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the competent authority to compound eligible contraventions,” the agency said.The role of ED, which is the designated agency to investigate all violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act after recommendation from RBI, is to issue a no-objection certificate to the central bank with regards to compounding of offences.The clarification came as RBI ordered closure of another Fema case by allowing compounding of offences against pharmaceutical firm Apothecon Pharmaceutical.“RBI has also issued master directions on compounding of contraventions under Fema, prescribing a compounding matrix for determining the compounding amount based on factors such as the nature, gravity, duration and amount involved in the contravention,” ED said.It said once RBI compounds the contraventions, ED drops proceedings and closes the investigation. “Major cases where it has closed the probes are brought to the notice of public at large through press releases so that in the case of similar pending investigations, application for compounding may be filed by the offenders before RBI,” it said.In the case against Apothecon Pharmaceuticals, the compounding of offences was allowed after the accused paid a penalty of Rs 40 lakh for offences which included delay in reporting foreign inward remittances and issue of equities without approval of govt.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.