13 convicted for money-laundering till now since 2005: Anurag Thakur in LS

The minister also informed the House that a total of 757 criminal cases were registered by the ED in the last five years (from 2015 to October 31 this year) under the PMLA

A total of 13 persons were convicted under the anti-money-laundering law, implemented about 14 years ago, in the country till now, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, also said till October this year, a total of 694 prosecution complaints or chargesheets were filed before courts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"Trial is underway in these cases before the respective PMLA special courts. Till now, 13 persons have been convicted by PMLA special courts in 9 cases," he said.

The PMLA was enacted in 2002 and implemented from 2005 in order to check serious crimes of tax evasion and generation of black money that led to the crime of money-laundering and terror-financing.

The minister also informed the House that a total of 757 criminal cases were registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the last five years (from 2015 to October 31 this year) under the PMLA.

In 2019-20 (till October this year), 103 PMLA FIRs were filed by the ED as compared to 195 in 2018-19, 148 in 2017-18, 200 in 2016-17 and 111 in 2015-16, he said.

"66 courts have been designated as PMLA special courts across the country," Thakur added.

"Appropriate steps such as augmentation of manpower and other resources and streamlining of investigation process etc. have been taken to ensure faster disposal of investigation in PMLA cases," the minister said.