Recovery from fugitive businessmen: Center told Supreme Court - Mallya, Modi, and Choksi have so far returned Rs 18,000 crore to banks

So far, Rs 18,000 crore has been recovered from businessmen Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, who fled the country after committing bank fraud of thousands of crores. The Central Government gave this information to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. 67,000 crore cases are pending in the Supreme Court related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravi Kumar is hearing the matter.

The Supreme Court is hearing petitions challenging the wide range of powers available to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for seizure, investigation, and attachment under the PMLA. Several senior lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Mukul Rohatgi, have argued before the SC on various aspects related to the possible misuse of the recent PMLA amendments.

Only 313 arrested since 2002

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the central government in the Supreme Court, said that as of date, the Enforcement Directorate is probing 4,700 cases. Only 313 people have been arrested in these crimes since the PMLA came into force in 2002.

33 lakh FIRs, but investigation of only 2,086 cases

Tushar Mehta said that during the last five years (2016-17 to 2020-21) 33 lakh FIRs were registered for such offenses but only 2,086 cases were taken up for investigation under PMLA. However, it is very less as compared to other countries. 7900 in Britain, 1532 in America, 4691 in China, 1036 in Austria, 1823 in Hong Kong, 1862 in Belgium, and 2764 in Russia have been registered annually under the Money Laundering Act.