ED restores assets worth over ₹16,000 crore
Enforcement Directorate (ED) will focus more on restoration of assets and properties to people defrauded by wrongdoers booked by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) besides expediting the conclusion of its investigations, people aware of the development told ET.
The top brass of the federal agency recently held meetings to discuss the issue and take a conscious decision to ensure restitution of assets to victims, they said.
ED officials are also identifying cases in which restitution of assets can be expedited, they said.
The agency has so far restored assets of around ₹16,400 crore after receiving orders from the special court(s), mostly in connection with three high profile cases.
In the money laundering case involving fugitive economic offender and former liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the agency has restored assets worth about ₹14,131 crore to a consortium of banks led by the SBI. In the case of Nirav Modi, another fugitive economic offender and diamond merchant, the ED has returned ₹1,052 crore (approx) to a consortium of banks led by the PNB.
Thirdly, the ED has returned properties amounting to almost ₹1,220 crore to a Supreme Court-appointed committee for restitution to 8,433 public investors (victims of fraud) in the case of National Spot Exchange Ltd. It is pertinent to note that in the cases involving Mallya and Modi, the ED succeeded in restitution of assets even before framing of charges by the court.
The concerned court(s) ordered restitution of assets under Section 8(7) of
