ED cannot act like miscreants: Supreme Court

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) – The Supreme Court today categorically stated that the Enforcement Directorate cannot act like crooks and it has to remain within the ambit of the law. The court made this remark while expressing concern over the low conviction rates in cases investigated by the central agency. A bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh was hearing petitions filed against a July 2022 order of the Supreme Court. In this decision, the constitutional validity of the ED's wide powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) was upheld.

Expressing concern over the image of the ED, the bench said, "What we have seen, which is proved by the statement of a minister in Parliament, that out of five thousand cases, less than 10 cases resulted in conviction." During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju argued that the ED is not obliged to give a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to any accused. The ASG further said that the investigating officers also face difficulties because the main accused often flee to countries like islands, which hinders the investigation.