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ED attached assets worth over ₹69,000 cr under PMLA since 2019: Govt tells Parl
Union minister Jitendra Singh made these revelations in a written reply to an array of questions in the Rajya Sabha asked by senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Sushil Kumar Modi
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had in the last four years provisionally attached proceeds of crime amounting to Rs.69,045.89 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the government told the Parliament on Thursday.
Union minister Jitendra Singh made these revelations in a written reply to an array of questions in the Rajya Sabha asked by senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Sushil Kumar Modi.
Modi also asked the Union minister about the total number of assets attached/confiscated from offenders under PMLA and ‘The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act’.
“During the period from 01.01.2014 to 31.10.2023, the Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached proceeds of crime amounting to Rs.1,16,792 crore and confiscated assets amounting to Rs.16,637.21 crore under the PMLA,” the written reply from Singh read.
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“Further, assets amounting to Rs.16,740.15 crore have been attached under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, and assets amounting to Rs. 15,038.35 crores have been confiscated thereunder,” it further read.
In a separate query raised by Modi on the number of extradition of criminals and fugitives carried out during the last four years, Singh said that since 2019, four persons had been extradited to India by the ED.
“Extradition orders in respect of three more persons have been passed by the Competent Courts,” he said.
“From 01.01.2019 to till date, four persons have been extradited to India by the Directorate of Enforcement and extradition orders in respect of three more persons have been passed by the Competent Courts,” the Union minister’s reply read.
The Centre had earlier informed the Parliament that 10 people had been declared fugitive economic offenders since 2018.
The list includes Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Hitesh Kumar Narendrabhai Patel, Junaid Iqbal Memon, Hajra Iqbal Memon, Asif Iqbal Memon and Ramachandran Vishwanathan.
Ahead of the G20 summit, during the routine meets, Singh had stressed faster extradition of fugitive economic offenders and recovery of their assets, besides achieving a “corruption-free world”.
In September, a parliamentary committee while recommending changes to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) recommended that the people accused of economic offences should not be handcuffed and should not be clubbed with those arrested for heinous crimes such as rape and murder.
