At a time when the Enforcement Directorate was busy questioning RJD chief Lalu Yadav in Patna on Wednesday, the Centre informed Parliament that the conviction rate of the probe agency in terms of cases against politicians has been about one per cent in the past ten years.
“In the last ten years, as many as 193 cases against politicians have been registered by the ED in which only two convictions have been made,” Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Rajya Sabha. Of the total cases, 138 – or 71% – have been registered in the past five years (since 2019) after the BJP came to power for a second term.
Interestingly, both convictions by the ED are of political leaders from Jharkhand. Former state minister Hari Narayan Rai was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2017, while another former minister from the state, Anosh Ekka, was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 2 crore in 2020.
The ED probed both leaders as part of a money-laundering investigation against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda. It is not clear whether they appealed against the sentences pronounced by special PMLA courts in Ranchi.
“The data of ED cases registered against MPs, MLAs & local administrators along with their party, state-wise, is not maintained. However, the year-wise details of cases against existing and former MPs, MLAs, MLCs and political leaders or anyone affiliated with any political party is being shared,” minister Chaudhary informed the Rajya Sabha.
More Ammo For Opposition
The finance ministry revealed that of the 193 cases registered against politicians, 138 were filed since 2019 and 32 between April 2022 and March 2023 alone.
Opposition parties have often accused the Centre of using agencies like the Enforcement Directorate for political ends and this disclosure has given them more ammunition. The Congress hit out at the BJP-led government for using central investigating agencies to intimidate political opponents and alleged that ED summons are sent to leaders from opposition parties every time an election approaches.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also accused the BJP of converting the ED into a ‘front’ of the party.
“As elections approach – PM Narendra Modii, who sent ED summons to the opposition, has made ED a front of the BJP,” Ms Shrinate wrote in a post on X.
The Finance Ministry, however, told the Parliament that ED takes up cases for investigation based on credible evidence/material and not on political affiliations, religion or otherwise. The actions of the ED, the Centre pointed out, are always open to judicial review.
“The agency is accountable to different judicial forums viz. adjudicating authority, appellate tribunal, special courts, honourable High Court and Supreme Court for the actions taken in the course of implementation of the PMLA, 2002; FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act), 1999 and FEOA (Fugitive Economic Offenders Act), 2018,” stated the minister.
The low rate of convictions in high-profile cases has also left the Enforcement Directorate red-faced. NDTV has learnt that after several Supreme Court observations, the agency decided not to rely solely on “criminal conspiracy” as the “predicate offence” based on which it registers such cases. It will now also include the offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act related to the conspiracy.
Instructions to this effect were cleared by ED Director Rahul Navin last year and have been passed on to officers who are probing high-profile cases.
