Over ₹69k crore worth of properties were attached by ED in the last four years: Government
In the course of its many money laundering investigations over the last four years, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached criminal assets valued at over ₹69,000 crore, the Union government said to Parliament on Thursday.
Since January 1, 2019, the federal agency has also been successful in extraditing four fugitives to India, according to a written response sent to the Rajya Sabha by Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (MoS) for the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions.
“Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) under the Department of Revenue has provisionally attached proceeds of crime amounting to ₹69,045.89 crore over the last four years (April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2023),” Singh said.
He was answering a query from MP Sushil Kumar Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who wanted to know the total amount of assets retrieved from fugitives and economic offenders during the previous four years.
The Bihar lawmaker for the Rajya Sabha also wanted to know how much money had been attached since 2014 under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act and the PMLA.
Singh, who is also the MoS in the Prime Minister’s Office, said, “From January 1, 2014, to October 31, 2023, ED has provisionally attached proceeds of crime amounting to ₹1,16,792 crore and confiscated assets amounting to ₹16,637.21 crore under the PMLA.” “In addition, under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, assets worth ₹16,740.15 crore have been attached, and assets worth ₹15,038.35 crore have been confiscated.”
In response to a different question on the number of criminals and fugitives extradited during the previous four years, Singh said that since 2019, the ED had done so four times. “The Competent Courts have issued extradition orders concerning three additional individuals,” he said.
The administration notified Parliament during the August monsoon session that ten people had been designated as fugitive economic offenders since 2018. Names like Vijay Mallya, and Nirav Modi, brothers Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, and Chetan’s wife Dipti were on the list.
