ED Recovers Rs 23,000 Crore, Redistributes to Victims

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has successfully recovered approximately Rs 23,000 crore of laundered money, which has been redistributed to the victims of financial crimes, as revealed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The announcement was made before a special bench that included Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma during an open court session focused on a collection of pleas seeking a review of the controversial May 2 judgment by the apex court.

The Supreme Court had, on May 2, ordered the liquidation of Bhushan Power & Steel Limited (BPSL), while also setting aside a resolution plan by JSW Steel Limited for the struggling company.

On July 31, a bench led by the CJI overturned the previous verdict and decided to revisit the review pleas in this significant case.

During the hearing of the review pleas, a lawyer mentioned the Enforcement Directorate's probe into the BPSL case.

In a light-hearted remark, the CJI said, “Here also ED is there.”

In response, Tushar Mehta shared, “Let me tell a fact, which was never said in any court, and that is ED has recovered Rs 23,000 crore (laundered money) and given it to the victims.”

The solicitor general further explained that the money recovered doesn’t stay with the state exchequer but is returned to the victims of the said crimes.

Curious about the results, the CJI inquired, “What is the conviction rate?”

Mehta responded by highlighting the low conviction rates in penal offenses, underlining that the numerous problems with the country’s criminal justice system are the main cause.

In an insightful observation, the CJI commented, “Even if they are not convicted you have been successful in sentencing them almost without a trial for years together.”

Illustrating an interesting point, Mehta noted, “In some of the cases where the politicians were raided, where the cash was found, our (cash counting) machines stopped functioning because of the huge cash… We had to bring new machines.” This remark was followed by a discussion on narratives being constructed on YouTube when politicians are caught.

Unmoved by media narratives, the CJI remarked, “We do not decide matters on narratives… I don't see news channels. I see headlines in newspapers only in the morning for 10-15 minutes.”

Mehta acknowledged knowing that judges do not make their decisions based on these external narratives circulating on social media and elsewhere.

It's worth noting that several benches of the top court have criticized the ED's alleged heavy-handed approach, particularly in cases tied to opposition leaders implicated in money laundering allegations.

Previously, on July 21, the CJI-led bench, concerning another case, had expressed that the Enforcement Directorate was “crossing all limits.”

The suo motu matter involved the summoning of two senior advocates by the ED for providing legal advice or representing clients during ongoing investigations.

(Only the headline of this report may have been reworked by Editorji; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)