New Delhi: The government has told the
Supreme Court that fugitive tycoons Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and
Mehul Choksi have returned ₹ 18,000 crores to banks. The apex court is hearing a series of petitions challenging the Enforcement Directorate's wide scope of powers related to money laundering cases.
According to the Center, the Enforcement Directorate is investigating 4,700 PMLA cases in India, with a total of 67,000 crores in proceeds of crime pending before the courts.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta highlighted the data to show how a huge sum of money is still stalled in the recovery stage due to the protection provided by courts.
"The courts are protecting some of the persons who have fled the country after duping thousands of crores. The courts have so far held up a total of Rs. 67000 crores by allowing non-coercive actions." he stated
Several eminent lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Mukul Rohatgi, have filed representations to the Supreme Court in recent weeks, alleging that the new modifications to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, or PMLA, could be abused.
The law has been criticized for a number of issues, including strict bail conditions, non-communication of arrest grounds, arrest of people without providing an ECIR (equivalent to a police First Information Report), the broadening of the definition of money laundering, proceeds of crime, and the admissibility of statements made by accused during the investigation as evidence during the trial.
In comparison to the scenario abroad, the Centre told the bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar that a very small number of cases are being taken up for investigation under the PMLA in India.
The Centre given the example of the United Kingdom (7,900 cases filed under the Money Laundering Act in a single year), the United States (1,532), China (4,691), Austria (1,036), Hong Kong (1,823), Belgium (1,862), and Russia (2,764).
However, according to the Centre, the number of cases taken up for investigation in India has varied over the last five years, from 111 in 2015-16 to 981 in 2020-21. For these offenses, 33 lakh FIRs have been lodged in the last five years (2016-17 to 2020-21); however, the Center pointed out that just 2,086 cases have been taken up for inquiry.
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