Registering a four-fold increase in the number of assets confiscated in corruption cases, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs9,003 crore and filed 173 chargesheets in the financial year 2014-15. A report detailing these figures has been submitted to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money and the Finance Ministry.

In the last fiscal year, the agency recorded a mammoth 400 per cent rise in the numbers of assets attached, over 500 per cent increase in the number of criminal FIRs lodged, over 600 per cent more numbers of arrests made of people suspected to be involved in money laundering crimes and more than 200 per cent jump in the filing of prosecution complaints or chargesheets as compared to 2013-14.

The agency which probes financial crimes under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) along with some old cases pending under the repealed Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) has broken all records of lodging complaints and prosecuting the accused of financial frauds, hawala and money laundering.

The ED attached assets to the tune of Rs9,003.26 crore, registered 1,326 PMlA FIRs and arrested 52 persons during 2014-15. Also, it issued a total of 492 attachment orders and got 355 confirmed from the Adjudicating Authority of the PMlA, the first appellate body against an order issued by the ED authority.

The value of attachment of assets in the last year saw a 407 per cent rise as compared to Rs1,773.41 crore and 214 per cent rise in filing of charge sheets as compared to figures for 2013-14. The agency is working on as many as 4,776 cases under FEMA at present while it has issued notices to the accused after completing investigations in 1,304 cases. Penalties worth Rs1,758.33 crore were also imposed on suspected foreign exchange law violators and hawala operators which is an over two thousand per cent rise from Rs78.13 crore worth such notices slapped during the comparative period of 2013-14.