IS ED BOON OR BANE FOR A SOCIETY?
Category: Criminal Law
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INTRODUCTION
Recently, Congress Member of Parliament Randeep Surjewala raised questions about the ED, which is misused by the BJP by stating a low conviction rate with many pending cases data during the winter session at Parliament. There were a lot of questions raised during the NDA tenure about favoring ED and PMLA cases. Although data revealed the different scenarios related to the conviction rate. Supreme Court also demanded the quality prosection in the conviction rate.
BACKGROUND
In July 2023, the union government shared data in Parliament revealing that only 31 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had completed trial over the past nine years. Of these cases, 29 resulted in convictions, leading to a conviction rate of 93.54%.
According to a report filed by the central agency to Parliament, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered 5,297 money laundering cases nationwide over the last ten years; however, only 43 of these cases have concluded their trials.Supreme Court highlighted the poor conviction rates in PMLA cases. A few days back Justice Surya Kant while hearing the bail petition of former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in a money laundering case highlighted the low conviction rate in the cases prosecuted by the Enforcement Directorate.
In the last 5 years, the ED’s conviction rate has not crossed five percent. Out of 911 cases filed under PMLA, only 42 (4.6%) have resulted in convictions, this was the concern raised by the Congress MP.
KEY POINTS
PMLA - Prevention of Money Laundering aims to prevent money laundering and confiscate property.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED)- It functions as both the domestic law enforcement agency and the economic intelligence agency and is responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crimes in India as well.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The Enforcement Directorate has released internal guidelines for its officers concerning the timing of recording statements. The agency underscores the importance of conducting these recordings during regular hours for individuals who have been summoned, it cannot question after office hours. Furthermore, it specifies that questioning of elderly and ill persons should be strictly confined to regular hours.
CONCLUSION
ED is a law enforcement and economic intelligence agency of the government of India. It is responsible for enforcing economic aws and combating financial crimes. But there are reports that says in the recent 5 years ED is biased and solely a puppet of the ruling party . There are less conviction rate in the recent 5 years .Therefore it is the duty of the ED to work without biases and follow fast track process and increase the conviction rate
