The finance ministry informed Rajya Sabha during the session that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took up 5,892 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2005. There was conviction of 15 people from amongst these cases during this period.

The Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, submitted a written reply which said, “In these cases, 1,398 prosecution complaints (PC) and 353 supplementary PCs have been filed before the respective special courts under PMLA, out of which so far the special courts have framed charges in 300 prosecution complaints, including 66 supplementary PCs, and the PMLA special courts have convicted 15 persons in eight conviction orders in these cases till June 30.”

The Minister also informed that the ED filed closure reports before the special PMLA court in 49 of these total cases.

What ED Report Said

In its annual report of 2024-25, the Enforcement Directorate Director, Rahul Naveen, said, “In the early years of administering PMLA, most cases pertained to drug-related offences. Till March 2014, only 1,883 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIR) had been registered—averaging fewer than 200 annually—and just 84 prosecution complaints were filed, with assets under attachment only ₹5,171.32 crore.”

“Between April 2014 and March 2024, there has been a significant scale-up in enforcement activities, with 5,013 PMLA investigations initiated—averaging 511 ECIR annually—and 1,332 PCs filed. I’m pleased to report that building on this momentum, in financial year 2024-25, 775 new PMLA investigations were launched, 333 PCs were filed, and a notable 34 individuals were convicted,” the Director further stated.