ED registered 193 cases against politicians in last 10 years, only 2 convicted

The Union government has informed Parliament that out of the 193 cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate against political leaders over the last ten years, only two have resulted in convictions. No case have been acquitted on merit.

In response to queries raised by CPM Rajya Sabha member AA Rahim, the Ministry of Finance said that it does not maintain party-wise or state-wise data on cases registered against political leaders.

However, the ministry published a table containing the year-wise details of cases against existing and ex-MPs, MLAs, MLCs, political leaders, or anyone affiliated with any political party.

After 2019, there was an increase in the number of ED cases against political leaders in the country, with 151 cases registered over the next five years.

Rahim also inquired whether there has been a recent trend of an increase in cases against opposition leaders in the country. In response, the Minister of State, Pankaj Chaudhary, stated that no such information is available.

"ED takes up the cases for investigation based on credible evidence/ material and does not distinguish cases based on political affiliations, religion or otherwise," he said.
Last November, the Supreme Court criticised the ED's low conviction rate and asked how long a person can be kept under trial.

The court, while considering TMC MLA Partha Chatterjee's bail plea, also said that only 40 convictions were secured in over 5000 cases registered by the ED in last ten years.

Meanwhile, the Central Government informed the parliament in December that out of 911 prosecution complaints filed in money laundering cases registered by ED in last 10 yars, trials were completed in 654 cases and it was able to secure a conviction in 42 cases.