Rajya Sabha member of the Congress Party, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Wednesday alleged the misuse of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the last five years of the NDA rule.
In a social media post, Surjewala shared the picture of Finance Ministy's reply to his questions in Parliament and said, "Misuse of ED & PMLA cases and the massive witch-hunt stands exposed!"
Surjewala, in a query, asked the Finance Minister for details of cases related to economic offences filed by the ED in the last five years. He also sought data on pending cases, disposed cases, and convictions in money laundering cases filed by the ED.
The Congress leader further demanded information on the number of functioning special courts under the PMLA for the trial of money laundering offences across the country.
Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply to Surjewala’s question, presented data on the total filed cases, pending cases, and convictions in money laundering cases.
According to the Finance Ministry, a total of 911 PMLA cases were filed between January 1, 2019, and October 31, 2021.
Finance Ministry's reply on Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala's statemet | X: @rssurjewala
Sharing the Finance Ministry's reply on X, Surjewala said that the answer to his question in Parliament revealed three stark facts:
In the last five years, the ED’s conviction rate has not exceeded 5%. Out of 911 cases filed under PMLA, only 42 (4.6%) have resulted in convictions.
Of the 911 cases, only 257 (28%) have reached the trial stage, while 654 (71.7%) remain pending for five years, proving nothing but blatant witch-hunting.
In the last five years under the NDA government, 911 cases were filed, whereas, during the entire 10 years of the UPA government, only 102 cases were filed. This highlights a blatant misuse of the ED!
