ED attached properties worth Rs 33,862.20 crore in major corporate frauds

New Delhi, April 3 (IANS) In major cases of corporate fraud, including the Sterling Biotech case, frauds committed by companies of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the Enforcement Directorate has attached properties worth Rs 33,862.20 crore, said a Parliament reply on Monday.

The Central government has enacted various laws such as FEMA, PMLA and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA) to prevent money laundering. The Enforcement Directorate is mandated with the task of enforcing the provisions of these laws.

According to a written reply in the Lok Sabha submitted by Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, the number of persons arrested by the ED in the last five years (1.4.2018 to 28.2.2023) stood at 374, which includes a number of directors of corporate firms involved in money laundering.

"No separate data related to corporate fraud is being maintained because PMLA cases generally involve several other offences also. However, in major cases of corporate fraud viz Sterling Biotech, frauds committed by companies of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the ED has attached properties worth Rs 33,862.20 crore. Out of this, assets worth Rs 15,113.02 crore have been confiscated and restituted to the public sector banks," the reply said.

The consortium of banks led by SBI has realised Rs 7975.27 crore by sale of assets handed over to it by the ED.

The reply said that to strengthen the 'Know Your Customer Anti-Money Laundering' (KYC AML) supervision of NBFCs and in alignment with the supervisory strategy adopted for scheduled commercial banks and select urban co-operative banks, the RBI is in the process of implementing a 'Risk Based Approach' (RBA) for KYC AML supervision of select NBFCs.