2 Convictions In 193 ED Cases Filed Against Political Leaders In Last 10 Years : Centre Tells Parliament

The Union Government has informed the Parliament that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered 193 cases over the past 10 years against political leaders, out of which two cases resulted in convictions. No case has resulted in acquittal on merits.

The Ministry of Finance made this statement in response to the queries raised by CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim.

Rahim sought to know the number of ED cases registered against MPs and MLAs and local administration members in the last ten years, along with their party, State-wise and year-wise. In response, Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, stated that the data of ED cases registered against MPs, MLAs & local administrators along with their party, state-wise is not maintained.

However, a table containing the year-wise details of cases against existing and Ex MPs, MLAs, MLCs and political leaders or anyone affiliated with any political party during the last 10 years was given.

Cases against MPs, MLAs and Political leaders

Time period                                          Total

01.04.2015 – 31.03.2016                        10

01.04.2016 – 31.03.2017                        14

01.04.2017 – 31.03.2018                         07

01.04.2018 – 31.03.2019                         11

01.04.2019 – 31.03.2020                         26

01.04.2020 – 31.03.2021                         27

01.04.2021 – 31.03.2022                         26

01.04.2022 – 31.03.2023                         32

01.04.2023 – 31.03.2024                         27

01.04.2024 – 28.02.2025                         13

Total                                                       193

As can be seen from the data, there was a spurt in the number of ED cases during the 2019-2024 period, with the highest number of cases(32) being filed in the 2023-204 period. 

The Minister replied that two convictions have been secured in these cases, one each in 2016-2017 and 2019-2020 period.

To the MP's query "whether there has been an increase in ED cases filed against opposition leaders in recent years, and if so, the justification for this trend", the Minister replied that no such information has been maintained.

The Supreme Court, on many occasions, have commented about the low conviction rates in the money laundering cases. Last November, while hearing TMC MLA Partha Chatterjee's bail plea, the Court had orally commented that the ED's conviction rate was poor and asked how long a person can be kept undertrial. Earlier, the Court flagged that out of the 5000 cases filed by the ED in the last ten years, only 40 convictions were secured, and asked the ED to focus on quality prosecution.

In the judgment passed in the Arvind Kejriwal case, the Court had observed that the data on PMLA complaints and arrests "raised a number of questions" and stressed on the need to have a uniform policy on arrests.

In December 2024, the Union Government informed the Parliament that out of 911 prosecution complaints filed in cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate (“ED”) for offence of Money Laundering during the last five years between 01.01.2019 to 31.10.2024, trials were completed in 654 cases and it was able to secure a conviction in 42 cases. i.e., 6.42% conviction rate.

Responding to Rahim's query whether Government has undertaken any reforms to improve the transparency and efficiency of ED investigations, the Minister replied :

"The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a premier law enforcement agency of the Government of India which has been entrusted with the administration and enforcement of Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA). ED takes up the cases for investigation based on credible evidence/ material and does not distinguish cases based on political affiliations, religion or otherwise. Further, the actions of ED are always open to judicial review. The agency is accountable to different judicial forums viz. Adjudicating Authority, Appellate Tribunal, Special Courts, Hon'ble High Court and Hon'ble Supreme Court for the actions taken in the course of implementation of the PMLA, 2002; FEMA, 1999 and FEOA, 2018."

Click here to read the Minister's statement