NEW DELHI: The Union government informed Parliament on Tuesday that the ED had registered 193 cases against political leaders over the past ten years. Of these, just two cases led to convictions, while no case resulted in an acquittal on merits.
Minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary provided this information in response to questions from CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim. Rahim had asked for details on the number of ED cases filed against MPs, MLAs, and local administration members over the past decade, including a party-wise, state-wise, and year-wise breakdown.
Chaudhary said that such data was not maintained. However, a table with year-wise details of cases against sitting and former MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and political leaders or individuals affiliated with any political party over the past ten years was provided.
According to the data, the highest number of such cases, 32, were lodged between April 2022 and March 2023. The second highest, 27, were recorded between April 2020 and March 2021, and again between April 2023 and March 2024. Additionally, 26 cases were registered in both 2019-2020 and 2021-2022.
When Rahim asked whether there had been an increase in ED cases against opposition leaders in recent years and the reason for this trend, the minister replied that no such information was maintained.
However, the data indicated a rise in the number of cases between 2019 and 2024, with the highest number recorded in 2022-23.
The Enforcement Directorate is responsible for implementing the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).
The Supreme Court has commented on multiple occasions about the low conviction rate in money laundering cases. In November last year, while hearing the bail plea of TMC MLA Partha Chatterjee, the Court observed, “What is your conviction rate? Even if the rate is 60-70 per cent, we can understand. But it is very poor.” The Court also questioned how long an accused could be kept undertrial.
Earlier, the Court had pointed out that of the 5,000 cases filed by the ED in the past ten years, only 40 resulted in convictions. It urged the agency to focus on quality prosecution.