Amendments to PC Act proposed to attach property, confiscate

The government has proposed amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act to allow attachment and administration of property or confiscation of money or property procured by any means which has been described as an offence under the law.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh said in reply to a written question in Rajya Sabha today.
He said amendments have been proposed in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 to provide for attachment and administration of attached property as well as for confiscation of money or property procured by means of an offence under the Act.
Replying to a question, he informed the House, "A total of 683 and 437 government officials were punished departmentally during 2014 and 2015 respectively."

As per the data provided by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 4,966 cases in 2014 and 5,250 in 2015 were reported under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act (including related sections of IPC), showing an increase of 5.7 per cent during the 2015 over 2014, he said.
The minister said during 2016, a total of 696 cases under the PC Act were disposed off from trial and 447 cases resulted in conviction.
In 2015, 722 cases were disposed off and 434 resulted in conviction while in 2014, 770 cases were disposed off and 509 in conviction, he added.