New Delhi: The Central Enforcement Directorate was created in 1956 to prevent and take action against economic crimes and foreign exchange offenses across the country. It started functioning as a national organization under the Department of Economic Affairs of the Central Government.
An officer knowledgeable in law is headed by its Delhi office and 2 officers from RBI have been deputed to assist him. Along with this, 3 inspectors of the Special Police Unit were also on duty.
Within a year, the organization was renamed the Central Enforcement Division. Subsequently, various amendments were brought in its laws. At present this division functions under the Department of Finance and Revenue. For about 40 years, the Enforcement Division was in limbo. It was then popularized by the actions taken under the newly added sections.
Finally, according to the 2018 law amendment, 5 tasks are its main tasks. Its mandate is to enforce the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA), Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (PEMA), Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018 (FEOA), Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1973 (PERA) and Kapibosa Act 1974.
In this, the PMLA Act has been enforced in India and many countries around the world due to international decisions. It was only after major sections were included that politicians also started getting caught in its clutches. As a result, complaints began to arise that every regime at the center was using the Central Enforcement Directorate as its political weapon. This ever-increasing complaint has become more pronounced after Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji’s arrest. Thus, the question whether its power is really being properly used or not is raised. This is because only when the actions of the enforcement wing spill over to the politicians, controversies arise.
However, there is no immediate verdict in the cases against these politicians who are being prosecuted. Few of these cases, which have been going on for years, have resulted in verdicts. This is due to lack of appointment of judges and other officers to its courts to hear many cases. To refute this, the Enforcement Directorate statistics have been released.
According to this, a total of 33,958 cases have been taken up by the Enforcement Division till January 31. Out of this, investigation has been completed in 16,148 cases. In 8,440 cases, notices have been sent to the accused seeking explanation. In 6,847 cases, the trial has been completed and the verdict has been given.
A total of 5,906 cases have been registered under three Acts namely PMLA, BEMA and FEOA. Of these, 2.98 per cent cases (176) were against MPs, MLAs and MLCs. Politicians were convicted in 96 percent of these 176 cases. Properties worth Rs.36.23 crore have been confiscated from the convicted politicians. Along with the punishments, fines of Rs.4.62 crore have also been imposed.
1,632 properties worth Rs 71,290 crore have been seized in PMLA cases. Another attachment of 260 properties worth Rs 40,904 crore is awaiting court approval. This is stated in the statistics.
Sukhram, who was the telecom minister in the Congress regime, is the first politician to be convicted in an Enforcement Directorate case. Sukhram, who was in the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s cabinet, was sentenced to 3 years in prison. After Prime Minister Modi’s regime in 2014, politicians were arrested in the highest number of cases by the Enforcement Directorate. This is due to the cases of three Acts PMLA, BEMA and FEOA being attached to the Enforcement Division. Opposition parties are mostly involved in these cases.
The list goes on like former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram, former Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, former Delhi Minister Satyender Jain, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were also caught by the enforcement wing following a complaint filed by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. All these are alleged to be political vendettas and acts of intimidation. Opposition parties complained that the Shiv Sena coalition government in Maharashtra was overthrown through the threat of the Enforcement Directorate.
This is due to the way they are interrogated. However, investigations by the Enforcement Directorate are not as rigorous as those conducted by the police at police stations. The Supreme Court has also issued several guidelines against human rights violations during trial. Thus, various interrogation techniques are used to bring out the truth from the criminals without touching them. The enforcement units are protecting themselves by making these video recordings without any charges against them.
At the same time, such investigations demoralize the accused politicians. A rich, prominent politician was allegedly threatened at the hearing to sit on the floor. There are also complaints that some convicts were subjected to mental stress by interrogating them for hours without letting them sleep. Senthil Balaji is also said to be likely to be investigated in this regard.
This is not the first time such complaints have arisen. Earlier there were complaints that some organizations like CBI were being used as political arms of the central government. After 2014, Enforcement Division has also joined this line. In recent times, the Enforcement Directorate has been joining CBI’s investigations. This makes it highly doubtful that he will file cases and initiate investigations in the units under his administration.
In this way, 2G corruption cases were registered due to the insistence of the opposition parties including the Left in the United Progressive Alliance government. In the investigation conducted by the CBI, former Union Minister A. Raza, M.P. Cases were registered against 16 people including Kanimozhi. They were also imprisoned. But in the judgment of the case, all were acquitted. No one has been convicted in the cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate.
Many of the businessmen facing enforcement agency cases have fled abroad. But there is no room for politicians to run away from being in important positions. There is a widespread opinion that it is better to avoid their premature arrests. Therefore, transparency and speedy investigation are necessary to ensure that the name of the government is not tarnished by the action of the Enforcement Directorate.