ED filed 193 cases against serving, ex-politicians; secured 2 convictions: Govt in Parl

Pic/PTI

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a total of 193 cases against politicians, including serving and former MPs and MLAs, over the last 10 years and secured conviction in two of those, the government has informed Parliament.

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said this in a written reply to question in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

He said the federal anti-money laundering agency has filed cases against politicians, including existing and former MPs, MLAs and MLCs, as well as people affiliated with political parties, but a state-wise data of the same is not maintained.

Chaudhary said 193 cases were filed by the ED against this category of persons between April 2015 and February 2025.

The minister added that two cases, one during the 2016-17 fiscal and another in 2019-20, led to convictions and there was no acquittal. He did not mention the cases or the names of the accused in the reply.

However, according to official records, former Jharkhand 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.

Both were probed by the ED as part of a money-laundering investigation against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda. It is not clear if the two convicted politicians had appealed against the sentences pronounced by special PMLA courts in Ranchi.

According to the data, the maximum number of 32 cases against former and serving legislators were filed by the ED during the 2022-23 fiscal.

The ED probes financial crimes under two criminal laws -- the PMLA and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) -- besides launching investigations under the civil provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

"ED takes up the cases for investigation based on credible evidence/material and does not distinguish cases based on political affiliations, religion or otherwise," the minister said in his reply.

"Further, the actions of ED are always open to judicial review," he added.

The agency is accountable to different judicial fora like the Adjudicating Authority and Appellate Tribunal of the PMLA, special courts, high courts and the Supreme Court for the actions taken in the course of implementing the PMLA, FEMA and FEOA, Chaudhary said.

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