War On Black Money In Full Swing: ED Has Attached A Record Rs 33,500 Crore Worth Assets In Three Years, Thrice The Decade Before

By filing around 390 charge sheets, Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached record assets worth Rs 33,500 crore in the last three years.

The agency has been tasked with enforcement of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). These curb the money laundering as well as hawala which remain primary mediums of hiding black money, Economic Times reported.

Most of the cases filed by ED are in connection with money laundering.

Under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, first five convictions have taken place in the last three years. During 2005-2015, ED attached assets worth just about Rs 9,000 crore in 173 charge sheets. The current record sets new goalposts for the agency.

ED Chief Karnal Singh retires on Sunday, October 28. Indian Revenue Service officer SK Mishra will be taking over the responsibilities from Karnal Singh. The latter is credited for taking some bold steps to steer the efforts to curb corruption.

Notable cases include Augusta Westland VVIP choppers, money laundering case against P Chidambaram and his son Karti, cases dealing with Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi which the incumbent has been pursuing so far during his tenure.

Karnal Singh also introduced a policy to conduct vigilance checks before the introduction of officials into the agency. Apart from everything mentioned above, six forensic labs have been established across India and field kits for forensic study has helped the officials to carry out the investigations in a more scientific manner.