New Delhi: In the last 10 years, during the BJP rule, there has been a tremendous surge in the activism of the central investigative agency Enforcement Directorate (ED). If we look at the figures, ED raids under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (PMLA) have increased 86 times in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, ED has seized 25 times more assets. These figures are in comparison to the pre-2014 UPA government.
There has been a tremendous increase in ED activity in the last 10 years: According to a report, comparing the data from April 2014 to March 2024 with the data from July 2005 to March 2014 shows that there has been an increase in ED activity in the last 10 years. There has been a lot of progress over the years. The PMLA law was enacted in the year 2002 and was implemented on July 1, 2005.
This law was made to prevent tax evasion, black money and money laundering. Opposition parties allege that the government is using ED against its opponents. However, the Central Government claims that there is no pressure on the agency from the ruling party and it works independently against corruption.
Figures tell the story: According to the data, the ED has also registered 5,155 cases under the PMLA law in the last 10 years, which is three times more than the 1,797 cases registered during the UPA government. The ED investigation has so far resulted in conviction against 63 people under the PMLA law. For the first time, ED got conviction in a case only in 2014. During the BJP government, ED conducted 7,264 raids in money laundering cases, whereas before 2014, ED had conducted only 84 raids. In this way, ED has conducted 86 times more raids during the BJP government.
ED has detained 755 people in the last decade and seized assets worth Rs 1,21,618 crore, whereas in the previous government, ED arrested 29 people and seized assets worth only Rs 5,086 crore. . In this way, ED arrests have been 26 times more and property seizures have been 24 times more. The central probe agency has issued 1,971 attachment orders in the last 10 years, whereas earlier such action was 311. ED has filed 12 times more chargesheets. ED has convicted 63 people in 36 cases and disposed of 73 chargesheets. During 2005 to 2014, ED did not make any conviction in any case.
ED has seized cash worth Rs 2,310 crore under the PMLA law in the last 10 years, whereas earlier only Rs 43 lakh was seized. ED succeeded in extraditing four accused to India and similar action is going on against Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Sanjay Bhandari. ED has issued 24 red notices of Interpol, whereas no notices were issued earlier.
