PM empowered ED against corruption: Pankaj Chaudhary
Union Minister Pankaj Chaudhary said on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “strengthened” and gave more powers to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to cure the “cancer” of money laundering, corporate fraud and corruption, not to target any entity as alleged by a certain “ecosystem” in the country.
Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Finance, called the central agency the “nation’s shield against financial crimes,” stating that it has not only “lived up” to the trust successive Governments reposed in it but has also set “new standards”.
He said the ED’s name is “respected” not only in India but also at various global forums, including the FATF, which praised its investigative skills. The minister spoke during the 70th ‘ED Day’ event held here. The agency was established on this day in 1956.
A host of Opposition parties have alleged that the ED is “a tool of the BJP-led Central Government” and is being used to “target” them.
“In the last few years, ED has been in the news the most. In its formative years, ED implemented the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (now repealed) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Since then, there has been an unprecedented enhancement in its capabilities and work efficiency.”
“Because the Indian Government trusted the ED, it was tasked with implementing the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (in 2005),” Chaudhary said in his speech delivered in Hindi.
He said there was an “ecosystem” in the country that found “problems” in every solution. “Whatever you do, such people start getting troubled. Respected PM Modiji took the reins of the country in 2014 and began taking tough decisions in the national interest; since then, the foundations of this ecosystem have been shaken,” he said.
He said “such people” keep “crying” that Modi has given “too much” power to the ED, but these are “half-truths”.
“The truth is that these powers were given to the ED to crush financial crimes and not to target someone. The question is: why were these powers essential?”, Chaudhary asked. He said this was essential because crimes like money laundering, hawala, possession of benami assets, corporate fraud and terror funding were “increasing” in the country.
This was due to black money being sent to foreign shores, scams occurring through banks, and the common person’s money ending up in the pockets of a few.
“Such crimes are no less than cancer for the nation, society and the common man, and we know cancer cannot be treated with a sweet pill. Respected PM Modi ji wants results, and therefore, the ED was strengthened more than it was earlier,” the MoS said.
“I want to ask some people if it’s wrong to dream of a corruption-free India, if bringing back money looted in bank frauds is wrong, and if stopping the funding of terrorism is wrong? “ED is the nation’s shield against financial crime.
