'From 50 To 239': Government Data Shows Notable Jump In Cases Filed By ED In Last Five Years
New Delhi: Union Government on Tuesday revealed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a total of 911 prosecution complaints related to economic offenses in different courts from 2019 onwards. Answering the queries raised by MP Randeep Singh Surjewala in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary said that out of the 911 cases, a total of 257 prosecution complaints have been pending, adding that the conviction has been secured in 42 cases for offence of money-laundering wherein 99 accused have been sentenced and proceeds of crime have been confiscated.
The minister shared a data, presenting year-wise details of the economic offenses registered under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) from 2019 to 2024. In the last five years, cases that the central probing agency has registered jumped significantly from 50 in 2019 to 239 in 2023. Till October 31, 2024, a total of 206 prosecution complaints have been filed.
Read Also: Karnataka Revokes CBI’s Permission To Probe Cases In State
The data showed that while 50 cases were filed in 2019, it rose to 106 in 2020, 128 in 2021, 182 in 2022, 239 in 2023, and 206 till 2024 October 31.
To a question regarding the number of functioning special courts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the minister said that a total of 106 Special Courts are functioning under PMLA for trial of offences related to the money-laundering across the Country as on December 4, 2024.
Read Also: “Unleashed Agencies Against Me As If I Am A Terrorist”: Arvind Kejriwal Accuses Centre
Notably, it is to be remembered that the huge uptick in the number of cases filed by the central probing agency in the past few years has also come along with the opposition repeatedly blaming the Union Government for using agencies like ED and CBI, among others, against them. Though the government maintains that the number of case shows its commitment to prevent money laundering, the opposition parties have alleged that the misuse of central agency as political weapons against them, pointing out the agencies’ running after opposition leaders.
