Money laundering: 25 people convicted in India so far

New Delhi: A total of 25 people have been convicted by courts in the country for the offence of money laundering while more than 400 arrests have been made since the ED was empowered to investigate serious financial crimes about 17 years back.

According to official data accessed by PTI, the ED has filed as many as 5,422 cases or Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs) under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) while it attached (provisionally) assets worth a whopping Rs 1,04,702 crore as part of 1,739 orders issued till March 2022.

The ED was entrusted to enforce the stringent provisions of the PMLA, enacted in 2002, from July 1, 2005.

The law empowers the agency to summon, arrest, attach the assets of the accused at the investigation stage and prosecute the offenders before a court of law.

The data said the federal agency also filed a total of 992 chargesheets or prosecution complaints before the courts during the same period. A total of 25 people have been convicted for the offence of money laundering while 400 arrests have been made by the agency during the 17-year period since the PMLA came into force. (PTI)