[PMLA Cases in India - Statistics] 4,700 cases under investigation, 313 arrests in last 20 years: SG Tushar Mehta to Supreme Court

Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta began his submissions before the Supreme Court on February 23 in a batch of petitions challenging provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). .In his arguments before the three-judge Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, the Central government's second senior-most law officer gave a slew of statistics on the Act and the cases under the Act.As per his submissions, 4,700 cases are currently being investigated by Directorate of Enforcement (ED). .A total of 2,086 cases were registered in the last 5 years by the ED, when compared to 33 lakh predicate offences in the country making it only 0.06 percent of all cases. "981 cases registered in 2021. This is a very small number of cases when compared to other developing countries such as USA, UK, China, Austria, Belgium etc.," he said.He also pointed out that in the last 20 years, that is 2002 till date, only 313 arrests have been made under PMLA..Mehta also said that India is a part of global coalition against money laundering known as Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and hence, India's laws have to be on par with global laws.Hence, he drew comparisons with the developed world regarding registration of cases under laws similar to the PMLA..In this regard, he also contended how as part of FATF, other regimes review India's statute and how we deal with money laundering."FATF gives recommendations as to how money laundering has to be stopped.There is a rating and assessment. As part of this assessment, our legal regime and our administrative regime is graded. There are 3 gradings of FATF - non-compliant, compliant and partially compliant. This grading affects credit rating, capability to raise debt from World Bank and ADB," he said.If money laundering happens in India, it has the ability to affect America and there is a cascading effect, he added.The PMLA and its amendments are based on the recommendations of this global network, FATF, he underscored. He, however, conceded that this per se cannot be ground to defend the Constitutionality of the statute and therefore, proceeded to address the Court on questions relating to Constitutionality. .Mehta also gave a snapshot of the agency for the past 17 years. .Pertinently, Mehta also submitted statistics on the three fugitive offenders, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Total fraud by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi is Rs. .The SG also said some of the people who have left the country after duping (banks and institutions) of thousands of crores are getting protection of the courts. "So far, an amount of ₹67,000 crores is held up by the courts by granting protection against coercive actions," he submitted.The hearing in the case will resume on March 1, Tuesday.Read more about petitioners' arguments here.