The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that only 2.98 percent of its overall ECIRs or complaints have been filed against serving or former MPs and MLAs, even as its conviction rate under the anti-money laundering law is at a high of 96 percent.
The federal probe agency has published updated data on its actions under the three laws it implements — the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) — until January 31, 2023.
From July 1, 2005, the ED was entrusted with enforcing the stringent provisions of the PMLA, enacted in 2002. The law empowers the agency to summon, arrest, attach the assets of the accused at the investigation stage, and prosecute the offenders before a court of law.
The data said the ED filed a total of 176 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs), equivalent to a police FIR, against existing and former MPs, MLAs, and MLCs, which comes to 2.98 percent of the total 5,906 such complaints filed since the law came into being.
It said a total of 1,142 prosecution complaints or charge sheets have been filed by it till now under the PMLA, and it has arrested a total of 513 people under these ECIRs and prosecution complaints. Trials, according to the data, were completed in a total of 25 cases under the PMLA during this period, and this resulted in convictions in 24 cases. One case resulted in an acquittal. The number of accused convicted under the anti-money laundering law in these cases stands at 45. The percentage of convictions is as high as 96 percent, according to the data. These convictions led to the confiscation of assets worth Rs 36.23 crore, while the courts imposed a fine of Rs 4.62 crore against the convicts. The opposition parties have often criticized the ED for choosing to act against politicians from their ranks and have said that the agency has a dismal conviction rate. The data also said that only in 8.99 percent of the cases, or 531 out of the total 5,906 ECIRs filed, was a search or raid conducted by the agency sleuths. The number of search warrants issued in these 531 cases is 4,954. According to the data, a total of 1,919 provisional attachment orders were issued by the agency under the anti-money laundering law, under which assets totalling Rs 1,15,350 crore were attached. The agency has been investigating some high-profile people, including sitting chief ministers, top politicians, bureaucrats, business groups, corporates, foreign nationals, and others, under the anti-money laundering law. The adjudicating authority of the PMLA confirmed 1,632 such attachment orders (holding assets worth Rs 71,290 crore), while 260 (with assets under attachment worth Rs 40,904 crore) were pending for confirmation.
