The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India has reported registering 4,622 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) across the last five financial years. During the same period, the agency successfully secured convictions in 43 cases, involving a total of 104 accused individuals.
These figures were presented in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. The breakdown of registered cases by financial year is as follows: 1,116 cases in FY22, 953 in FY23, 698 in FY24, 775 in FY25, and 1,080 in FY26. This totals to 4,622 cases over the five-year span.
Prosecution and Arrests Under PMLA
The government also informed Parliament that the ED has filed 2,444 prosecution complaints under the PMLA provisions before Special PMLA Courts. These complaints are currently at various stages of trial. Additionally, the ED has arrested 1,243 individuals under the Act's provisions.
However, the government clarified that data concerning the exact number of undertrial prisoners currently in jail is not centrally maintained, partly because some arrests are made by predicate agencies rather than the ED directly.
Conviction Details and Income Tax Department Data
The reply further detailed the annual breakdown of convictions secured by the ED:
- FY22: 3 cases, 4 accused
- FY23: 9 cases, 24 accused
- FY24: 13 cases, 19 accused
- FY25: 9 cases, 38 accused
- FY26: 9 cases, 19 accused
Cumulatively, this brings the total to 43 convictions involving 104 accused over the five-year period.
For comparison, the Income Tax Department filed 2,127 prosecution cases during the same five financial years. It recorded 233 convictions and 854 acquittals between FY22 and FY26. The Income Tax Department's annual prosecution filings were: 195 in FY22, 387 in FY23, 502 in FY24, 611 in FY25, and 432 in FY26.
The Finance Ministry emphasized that the number of prosecution cases filed and the figures for convictions or acquittals are not directly correlated, as convictions or acquittals may relate to cases initiated in different years.