ED to restitute Rs 15,000-crore assets to fraud victims during 2025-26

The Enforcement Directorate ED has earmarked assets worth about Rs 15000 crore that will be restored to the victims of real estate Ponzi and other frauds across the country during the current financial year officials saidThe federal probe agency has begun initiating this provision for restitution of properties available under the antimoney laundering law aggressively since last year to ensure that legitimate owners and rightful claimants duped by a financial crime get their dues documents showedTill date as per records accessed by PTI assets worth a total of Rs 31951 crore have been restituted under this provisionOut of this Rs 1520165 crore assets were restituted between 201921 in three money laundering cases related to fugitive economic offenders Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi apart from the National Spot Exchange Limited NSEL caseIn June last year ED Director Rahul Navin undertook a comprehensive review of all money laundering cases where assets can be restored to the victims of frauds and since then the agency has secured court orders in 32 cases after it filed applications to initiate the restitution procedure the officials saidAccording to the data between August 2024 and April this year the ED restored assets of Rs 1526115 crore 202425 fiscal and Rs 1488 crore worth of properties during the current fiscal 202526The officials said the ED chief recently issued directions to all regions of the agency to actively work on cases marked for restitution of assets worth Rs 15000 crore during the financial year 202526The investigating officers and their supervisory officers have been asked to file special applications before the competent court and follow them up till a final order is issued More such cases where restitution can be done are being worked upon the officials saidUnder the existing scheme of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA the process to restore the assets of innocent investors can be ordered by competent courts even before the trial is completed in a case The ED needs to file a chargesheet before the court and it should frame charges against the accused before initiation of restitution proceedingsRestitution or restoration of assets can be done under section 88 of the PMLA which says that if a property has been confiscated by the central government by the ED the special court has the power to direct restoration of the confiscated property to a claimant who has a legitimate interest in the property and has suffered a quantifiable loss as a result of an offence of money launderingThe court while ordering restitution has to determine that the properties were initially acquired through illicit means but ultimately belong to innocent partiesThese provisions empower the ED to act swiftly to ensure that legitimate claimants regain control of their assets before the conclusion of the legal process an officer working on these cases saidThe said sections have been provided in the PMLA to provide prompt relief to those who lost their hardearned money in a criminal case of cheating like bank fraud Ponzi scheme investment fraud or nondelivery of a promised home by the builder among others he saidAs per procedure the claimants receiving the restitution are required to execute a bond to refund or reimburse the amount if directed at any subsequent stage of the proceedings or upon conclusion of the trialPrime Minister Narendra Modi during the campaign for the 2024 general elections had said that his government will work to return the money looted from poor peopleThe prime minister of India has consistently emphasised the urgent need to recover and return funds misappropriated from the poor and innocent citizens of the country and has repeatedly stressed that money siphoned off through fraudulent means must be rightfully restored to those who have been cheated in Ponzi schemes a recent government statement on restitution had saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params