New Delhi: Of all cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), nearly 75 percent have been since 2014, according to government data provided to Parliament Tuesday.
There had been a total of 7,083 enforcement case information reports (ECIR) registered by the ED under PMLA till 31 July, and 5,297 of these were registered after 2014, the finance and home ministries told the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha respectively.
The ECIR is the agency’s equivalent of a first information report or FIR.
The PMLA came into effect from 1 July, 2005 with an aim to bring a legal framework to stop profiteering through illegal sources or businesses.
The finance ministry was responding to a question asked by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose, while the home ministry answered a query by Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
The home ministry provided state-wise data on the total number of accused currently under arrest under the PMLA but the finance ministry, under which the ED operates, said the ED does not maintain a state-wise record cases registered under the act.
The home ministry further informed the Lok Sabha that there were acquittals in only three cases over the past 10 years while the agency secured convictions in only 40 cases. However, the Ministry of Finance informed the Rajya Sabha that the agency had secured convictions in around 93 percent of its money-laundering cases.
The act was amended in 2019 to bolster the power of the directorate — a move sharply criticised by opposition parties which call the ED an extended arm of the Narendra Modi government.
The agency over the last few years has arrested several high-profile political leaders from opposition parties, including chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren, besides former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. While Soren and Deshmukh are out on bail, Kejriwal and Sisodia are still in jail as part of the investigation in the Delhi excise policy case.
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Steep rise since 2019 amendment
The number of cases under the PMLA was 195 in 2014 when Modi stormed to power, defeating the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
While cases remained below 200 till 2019, the number jumped nearly three times to 708 in 2020. There was a continuous sharp surge with 1,166 and 1,074 cases registered in 2021 and 2022 respectively. There were 934 cases registered last year by the ED under PMLA.
In 2019, the government amended the PMLA, expanding the scope of “proceeds of crime” and further empowering the agency on search, seizure and arrest of accused along with a reverse “burden of proof”.
In 2019, the government through a finance bill expanded the scope of offence of money laundering by declaring that an individual would be deemed guilty of the offence of money laundering if he/she is in “any manner whatsoever” actually involved or is knowingly party to any of the processes such as concealment, possession, acquisition or projection of proceeds of crime as “untainted”.
Additionally, the government had also expanded the scope of proceeds of crime by defining them as properties or assets not only derived directly from the scheduled offence but derived out of any “criminal activity” related to the scheduled offence. The amendment also empowered the directorate to arrest an accused without a warrant, providing that the conditions laid down under Section 19 of the PMLA are fulfilled.
Jharkhand and Rajasthan have the highest number of people currently in custody under this law — 18 and 17 respectively. The number of accused in custody in PMLA cases has also shot up exponentially, increasing from 53 in 2022 to 139 in 2023 and 140 so far this year.
The finance ministry further told the Rajya Sabha that properties worth nearly Rs 1.31 lakh crore have been attached by the agency so far, with the value of seizures being around Rs 3,700 crore.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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