The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed more than 5,400 money laundering cases since the criminal law was enacted over 17 years ago and it has secured conviction against just 23 persons till now, according to details provided by the government to Parliament on Monday.
The information was provided to Lok Sabha in a written reply by the minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
Till 31 March 2022, the minister said, the ED recorded 5,422 cases under the PMLA, attached proceeds of crime of Rs. 1,04,702 crore (approximately), and filed prosecution complaints (charge sheets) in 992 cases resulting in the confiscation of Rs 869.31 crore and conviction of 23 accused.
The PMLA, enacted in 2002, was implemented on July 1, 2005.
Separately, the minister said, that in the last 10 years, the ED registered the highest number of money laundering and foreign exchange violation cases during the 2021-22 financial year — at 1,180 and 5,313 complaints respectively.