Exponential rise in ED actions in BJP rule vs UPA era
NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate’s searches under anti-money laundering law surged 86 times, with arrests and asset attachments rising about 25 times in the ten years since 2014, compared to the preceding nine-year period, as per official data.
An analysis of the data for the last ten years, between April 2014 and March 2024, against the nine years from July 2005 to March 2014 presents a picture of the federal agency’s “intensified” action under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The PMLA was enacted in 2002 and implemented from July 1, 2005, to check serious crimes of tax evasion, generation of black money and money laundering. While the Opposition parties have alleged that the
ED’s action during the last decade was part of the BJP-led central government’s “oppressive” tactics against its rivals and others, the Union government and the ruling party have asserted that the agency is independent and its investigations were purely based on merit and under the mandate to act against the corrupt.
The ED booked as many as 5,155 PMLA cases during the last ten years as compared to a total of 1,797 complaints or Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs or FIRs) filed during the preceding period (2005-14), a jump of about three times, the data said. The data shows that the agency also got its first conviction starting the 2014 fiscal and it has, till now, got 63 persons punished under the anti-money laundering law.
The ED conducted 7,264 searches or raids in money laundering cases across the country during the 20142024 period as compared to just 84 in the preceding period - a jump of 86 times. It also arrested a total of 755 people during the last decade and attached assets worth Rs 1,21,618 crore as compared to 29 arrests and Rs 5,086.43 crore worth of attachments
respectively during the last compared period, the data stated. The arrests are 26 times more, while figures related to the attachment of properties are 24 times higher.
The agency issued 1,971 provisional attachment orders for various types of immovable and movable assets during the last decade as compared to 311 such orders taken out in the preceding comparable period. It got about 84 per cent of the attachment orders confirmed from the Adjudicating Authority of the PMLA during 2014-24 as compared to 68 per cent confirmations from the same authority during the last compared period.
The filing of charge sheets also saw a jump of 12 times in the last decade with 1,281 prosecution complaints filed by it before courts as against 102 during the preceding period. The data said the ED secured conviction orders in 36 cases from various courts leading to the prosecution of 63 persons and a total of 73 charge sheets were disposed of during the last decade. No conviction was obtained by the agency nor any charge sheet was disposed of under the anti-money laundering law during the 200514 period, according to the statistics.