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The Hindu
03-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
98% of ED cases involving politicians filed against opposition leaders: TMC's Saket Gokhale
Trinamool Congress leader Saket Mr. Gokhale on Saturday (May 3, 2025) said 98% of the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate against politicians were against Opposition leaders. 'The remaining two% are those who went and joined the BJP's 'washing machine,'' he said. Mr. Gokhale referred to Thursday's (May 1) statement of ED Director Rahul Navin, to claim that the surge in cases post-2014 was at the behest of Narendra Modi, who came to power the same year. Speaking at an event on ED Day, Mr. Navin said the anti-money laundering law had been 'largely ineffective' before 2014 and there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity since then. In a post on X, Mr. Gokhale said, 'Yesterday, the head of central agency ED admitted that there's been a surge of cases filed after Modi Government came to power in 2014.' 'In the last 11 years, a total of 5,297 cases were filed by ED. How many were taken to court for trial? Only 47,' he said. The TMC Rajya Sabha MP said the conviction rate in ED cases is only 0.7%. 'That means out of every 1,000 cases filed, accused were found guilty in only seven cases,' he said. 'Therefore, out of every 1,000 cases, 993 cases are filed by ED purely to keep a person in jail because getting bail under the draconian PMLA is almost impossible,' he said. According to the ED Director, 1,739 cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are under trial at present. He said out of the 47 cases decided by courts, the conviction rate was 93.6% with only three acquittals. Meanwhile, Mr. Gokhale accused the Centre of using the probe process as a punishment. 'The idea is to turn the process into punishment in order to blackmail and extort the innocent accused into breaking down and following the orders of the BJP,' he said. Mr. Navin on Thursday (May 1) claimed that the slowdown in the adjudication of these cases could be attributed to a 'general delay' in the judicial system of the country, combined with the inherent complexity of such investigations. Speaking at an event held in New Delhi to mark the ED Day, the agency chief said though the PMLA was enacted in 2003 and came into force on July 1, 2005, it was 'largely ineffective' in the initial years with less than 200 cases per year, mostly 'restricted' to drug-related offences. 'After 2014, however, there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity. From 2014 to 2024, 5,113 new PMLA investigations were initiated, averaging more than 500 cases per year,' Navin said. The central probe agency was established on May 1, 1956. It implements two criminal laws — The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) — apart from the civil provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
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Business Standard
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
98% ED cases against politicians target Oppn leaders, claims TMC's Gokhale
Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale on Saturday said 98 per cent of the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate against politicians were against opposition leaders. "The remaining two per cent are those who went and joined the BJP's 'washing machine,'" he said. Gokhale referred to Thursday's statement of ED Director Rahul Navin, to claim that the surge in cases post-2014 was at the behest of Narendra Modi, who came to power the same year. Speaking at an event on ED Day, Navin said the anti-money laundering law had been "largely ineffective" before 2014 and there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity since then. In a post on X, Gokhale said, "Yesterday, the head of central agency ED admitted that there's been a surge of cases filed after Modi Government came to power in 2014." "In the last 11 years, a total of 5,297 cases were filed by ED. How many were taken to court for trial? Only 47," he said. The TMC Rajya Sabha MP said the conviction rate in ED cases is only 0.7 per cent. "That means out of every 1000 cases filed, accused were found guilty in only seven cases," he said. "Therefore, out of every 1000 cases, 993 cases are filed by ED purely to keep a person in jail because getting bail under the draconian PMLA is almost impossible," he said. According to the ED Director, 1,739 cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are under trial at present. He said out of the 47 cases decided by courts, the conviction rate was 93.6 per cent with only three acquittals. Meanwhile, Gokhale accused the Centre of using the probe process as a punishment. "The idea is to turn the process into punishment in order to blackmail and extort the innocent accused into breaking down and following the orders of the BJP," he said. Navin on Thursday claimed that the slowdown in the adjudication of these cases could be attributed to a "general delay" in the judicial system of the country, combined with the inherent complexity of such investigations. Speaking at an event held here to mark the ED Day, the agency chief said though the PMLA was enacted in 2003 and came into force on July 1, 2005, it was "largely ineffective" in the initial years with less than 200 cases per year, mostly "restricted" to drug-related offences. "After 2014, however, there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity. From 2014 to 2024, 5,113 new PMLA investigations were initiated, averaging more than 500 cases per year," Navin said. The central probe agency was established on May 1, 1956. It implements two criminal laws --The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) -- apart from the civil provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
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Business Standard
02-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
100 PMLA courts in country but money laundering trials delayed: ED
Timely completion of money laundering case trials continues to face several "systemic" and "procedural" hurdles, even though there are 100 special PMLA courts across the country, the Enforcement Directorate has said in its latest report. The federal probe agency has been regularly targeted by political parties in the opposition, alleging that its actions were biased and the conviction rate was "poor" -- a claim strongly refuted by the organisation. ED Director Rahul Navin defended the track record of his agency during an event held here on Thursday to mark the 'ED Day', saying its conviction rate was more than 93 per cent. Same day, the ED also released its first-ever annual report, where it devoted a specific chapter to 'Challenges in Expeditious Completion of PMLA Trials'. Till now, the estimate of yearly work done by the agency was clubbed in the 'Annual Report' of the Union finance ministry under which the ED works. "While the legal framework under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) provides for a structured mechanism for prosecution, the timely completion of trials continues to face several systemic and procedural hurdles," the report for the 2024-25 financial year said. It said a "primary challenge" was that prosecution of money laundering cases is "intrinsically" linked to the progress of the investigation or trial of the corresponding predicate offence. "Delays in those proceedings invariably impact the PMLA trial," the report said. According to the scheme of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which came into force in 2005, the ED cannot register an independent case but has to base its complaint on a primary FIR of the police or any other such investigating agency, which is called the predicate offence. The report said money laundering investigations typically involve "complex" financial structures, a large volume of financial data and often cross-border transactions. This demands intensive forensic analysis and extensive documentation, thereby prolonging the scrutiny required during the trial. The volume and complexity of evidence significantly contribute to delays, it said. The report said that despite the establishment of 100 special PMLA courts across the country, judicial resources remain stretched as many of these courts are also burdened with cases under other statutes. "Trials are frequently interrupted by the filing of interlocutory applications, writ petitions and bail matters -- some of which reach the high courts and the supreme court, thereby impacting the continuity and expeditious disposal of trials under the Act (PMLA)," it said. The ED chief too had reiterated the same points during the 'ED Day' event saying delays in the adjudication of money laundering cases "can be attributed to the general delay in the judicial system but is also on account of the inherent complexity of money laundering investigations and the procedural linkages with the trial of the predicate offence." He defended the ED's prosecution record, saying "of the 47 cases decided so far, there have been only three acquittals, yielding a commendable conviction rate of 93.6 per cent." He made a "candid acknowledgement" that several PMLA investigations were pending for a "very long" time, and one of the "focus" areas this year for the ED would be to undertake efforts to complete the investigation and file the final prosecution complaint and prayer for confiscation of criminal property before the special courts. The report gave figures, saying the ED registered a total of 7,771 ECIRs (enforcement case information reports) between 2005-2025, and it filed prosecution complaints in only 1,739 cases. The report did not say how many ECIRs, the ED equivalent of a police FIR, were clubbed or closed. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Power to arrest must be used sparingly: ASG to ED officials
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju on Thursday asked Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers not to make arrests in money-laundering cases 'hastily' as this would not yield them good results in courts, and advised them to rather use their powers to arrest sparingly and at a later stage of investigation. Speaking at an ED Day event at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi, ASG Raju, who represents the federal agency in multiple high-profile cases, emphasised that the provision of arrest is 'very crucial' for all agencies that carry out investigations as often, it is the threat of arrest that makes a person disclose certain things. 'Arrest is very crucial for all agencies which are carrying out investigation. Many times, it is the threat of arrest that makes a person disclose certain things. You must use your power to arrest not liberally but sparingly, and you must use it at a very late stage, not at a nascent stage (of investigation),' Raju said. The event, marking completion of 69 years of the establishment of the agency, was also attended by Union minister of state (MoS) for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, ED director Rahul Navin, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Praveen Sood, and senior officers of the financial crimes probe agency. Elaborating on why the arrest should be delayed, the ASG said: 'Under PMLA (prevention of money laundering act), you must furnish the grounds of arrest and reasons to believe before taking someone into custody. So, if you arrest a person early, you may not have those grounds of arrest or you may not have reasons to believe that undergo the scrutiny of courts to say that yes reasons are justifiable for arrest.' 'So, if you delay it (arrest) a little bit, you will get proper appreciation of courts also. Many times, courts say grounds of arrest or reasons to believe are not proper,' Raju added. He said arrest also defeats the purpose of section 50 of the PMLA, under which ED records the statements of people connected to the case that are admissible as 'evidence' in the courts. Material evidence can be gathered when ED interrogates a person, but if a person is arrested, the section 50 statement becomes 'vulnerable' and it is no longer evidence, the ASG said. 'So, you have to obtain a section-50 statement before the arrest ... and therefore, my second suggestion is that do not be hasty in arresting people. Take your time, get the evidence and then arrest,' he added. Raju said if ED arrests a person early, when the investigation is not over, and due to this, the agency is not able to file a chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days, then the accused, even a worst offender, will get the 'default' bail. The senior law officer also suggested that 'hawala' dealers should be categorised as reporting entities, so that they provide information to the agency about their clients who move huge amounts of cash. Raju also asked ED to be careful about section invoking vicarious liability – making director of a company liable for it. He was referring to the agency naming former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as accused along with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi excise irregularities by invoking section 70 of the PMLA. The companies under Section 70 can be defined as partnership firm or an association of persons (AOP) etc. 'We are today facing the issue if a political party was an AOP and our case is that it is an it is a deemed company under Section 70. And we have referred to the representation of the people act. This is pending in court so I will not say much,' he said. On the occasion, ED director Navin said the anti-money laundering law was left largely ineffective before 2014, and the slowdown in adjudication of these cases can be attributed to the general delay in the judicial system of the country coupled with the inherent complexity of such investigations. He also said ED had a 'commendable conviction' rate of 93.6% as out of the 47 cases decided by courts till now, there have been only three acquittals. 'After 2014, however, there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity. From 2014 to 2024, 5,113 new PMLA investigations were initiated, averaging more than 500 cases per year,' the agency chief said.
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Business Standard
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Over 1,700 money laundering cases under trial: ED chief Rahul Navin
Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director Rahul Navin on Thursday revealed that over 1,700 money laundering cases are currently at the trial stage across Indian courts. He attributed the delay in prosecution to the broader issue of slow judicial processes in the country. Speaking at the ED Day event in New Delhi, Navin noted that 1,739 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are being tried in courts. While acknowledging the backlog of pending investigations, he assured that the agency is committed to expediting the filing of chargesheets. Despite the delays, Navin highlighted the ED's high conviction rate of 93.6 per cent. Of the 47 cases that have been concluded by courts so far, only three have resulted in acquittals. The ED chief also emphasised the agency's plans to strengthen investigations through the use of advanced technology and forensic tools. The Enforcement Directorate, which marks its 69th anniversary this year, was established on May 1, 1956. It enforces two major criminal laws — the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) — in addition to the civil provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). ED Director Rahul Navin also said that the anti-money laundering law was left "largely ineffective" before 2014, and the slowdown in adjudication of these cases can be attributed to the "general delay" in the judicial system of the country, coupled with the inherent complexity of such investigations. Navin also said that the Enforcement Directorate had a "commendable conviction" rate of 93.6 per cent, as out of the 47 cases decided by courts till now, there have been only three acquittals.
