The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a central agency working directly under the Ministry of Finance, tasked with investigating and enforcing laws related to financial offenses. Its origin goes back to 1 May, 1956, when an Enforcement Unit was formed in the Department of Economic Affairs for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. The following year, this Unit was renamed as Enforcement Directorate.
The ED’s mandate encompasses investigating offenses under significant legislative frameworks such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999 (FEMA), and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act of 2018 (FEOA). The agency investigates individuals and entities involved in financial wrongdoing. This may include tracing illicit funds, seizing assets acquired through illegal means, and prosecuting offenders to ensure accountability and deterrence.
Headquartered in New Delhi, the ED operates through a network of regional offices in Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata.
Thoughts go to the Bhima Koregaon case. There is a need for the honourable apex court to comprehensively review the jurisprudence relating to grant of bail in cases related to UAPA and PMLA. Issue guidelines for trial courts, which often feel diffident. 2. For a lay person, the metric should be whether the individual is a flight risk, or can influence witnesses, tamper with the records.