New Delhi: Fugitive business tycoons including Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have so far returned an amount of Rs 18,000 crore to banks, Center told Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the top court that the amount has been recovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after orders of the courts, following the due procedure in money laundering cases.
According to news agency PTI, the bench of SC was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the wide scope of powers given to ED in connection to money laundering cases.
Mehta also informed the bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar that the total proceeds of crimes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases pending before the top court amounts to Rs 67,000 crore.
The center also informed that currently 4,700 cases of money laundering are being investigated by ED as on date and only 313 people have been arrested for the alleged offenses since the enactment of PMLA in 2002.
“As on date, 4,700 cases are being investigated, right from the inception, by the Directorate of Enforcement. The number of cases taken up for investigation each year in last five years varies from 111 cases in 2015-16 to 981 in 2020-21 . This is the average number of cases,” Mehta told the bench.
Furthermore, Mehta also said that the top court is dealing with a statute which is not just penal but a preventive and regulatory statute providing for investigation and final prosecution.
“It is evident that a very small number of cases are being taken up for investigation under the PMLA as compared to annual registration of cases under the money laundering act in countries like the United Kingdom, United States of America, China, Hongkong, Belgium and Russia,” he pointed out.
Mehta said that persons who have left the country after thousands of crores of money laundering were filing petitions and they were granted order of no coercive action and India is seeking their extradition.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court bench observed that there are 313 arrests in 20 years and more than 200 pleas are pending before it in the matter.
Centre’s response came after the apex court, earlier this month, stressed the need for a fast investigation if the ED comes across an intelligence input indicating huge illegal money laundering, observing that cash travels faster than light.
(With inputs from agencies)
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