Rs 18,000 Crore Returned To Banks From Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi And Others: Centre Tells SC

New Delhi: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of centre on Wednesday informed Supreme Court (SC) on Monday that Rs 18,000 crore have been returned to banks in the case of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

Apart from these, Mehta, also informed the apex court that the the toatl proceeds of crimes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases pending before the top court amounts to Rs 67,000 crore.

''As of date 4,700 cases are being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the number of cases taken up each year in the last five years varies from 111 cases in 2015-16 to 981 in 2020-21,'' he further apprised the court.

The apex court is hearing petitions, challenging the wide scope of powers available to the ED for search, seizure, investigation and attachment of proceeds of crime under the law.

Mehta also apprised the court that during last five years (2016-17 to 2020-21), only 2,086 cases were taken up for investigation under the PMLA out of registration of FIR of approximately 33 lakh for predicate offences by the police and other enforcement agencies.

"Very small number of cases are being taken up for investigation under the PMLA as compared to annual registration of the cases under the Money Laundering Act in the UK (7,900), the US (1,532), China (4,691), Austria (1,036), Hongkong (1,823), Belgium (1,862) and Russia (2,764)", he added.

He also asserted that efforts against money laundering have consistently advocated including the widest range of predicate offences in the domestic laws.

Over the past few weeks, senior advocates like Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Mukul Rohatgi, Sidharth Luthra, Amit Desai, and others have made submissions before the top court on various aspects related to potential misuse of PMLA provisions introduced by way of amendments to the Act.

Also read: ED Arrests NCP Leader Nawab Malik Over Money-Laundering Case

Also watch: