Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recovered and returned assets worth ₹22,280 crore to victims and their rightful owners. 

Major recoveries in high-profile cases

While discussing the supplementary demands for grants, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talked about the ED’s work in recovering assets from major financial crimes. She mentioned that the ED gave back properties worth ₹14,131.6 crore to public sector banks. These properties were linked to Vijay Mallya, a businessman who left the country after being involved in financial fraud.

The ED also recovered properties worth ₹1,052.58 crore in the Nirav Modi case, where his fraudulent actions caused huge losses to banks. These properties were returned to both public and private banks. Additionally, the ED seized assets worth ₹2,565.90 crore linked to Mehul Choksi. These properties are now set to be sold through an auction to help recover money for the victims.

The ED also recovered money from the National Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL) scam. Finance Minister Sitharaman said that assets worth ₹17.47 crore were taken back and given to the real investors who were cheated in this scam.

On these efforts, Sitharaman said, "On the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED has successfully restored properties valued at least ₹22,280 crore from major cases. We have not left anyone behind, even if they fled the country. We have gone after them."

Focus on foreign black money

Sitharaman spoke about the government's efforts to deal with black money kept in foreign countries. Since the Black Money Act started in 2015, the government has worked hard to find hidden foreign assets. She said the law has discouraged people from hiding such money and encouraged more taxpayers to report their foreign assets.

The number of people reporting their foreign assets has grown a lot, increasing from 60,467 in 2021-22 to more than 2 lakh in 2024-25. The finance minister stressed the government's dedication, saying, "We are after them. We will ensure that money that rightfully belongs to banks and investors is returned."

As of June 2024, the government has demanded over ₹17,520 crore in 697 cases under the Black Money Act. It has also started legal action in 163 of these cases.

The government is looking into cases from leaks like the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers. These leaks showed that some Indian citizens have hidden money in other countries. To handle these cases faster, the government set up a Multi-Agency Group (MAG), which combines different enforcement teams to work together more effectively.

Sitharaman shared that the government has found ₹33,393 crore of undisclosed income in 582 cases as part of these investigations. She assured the public that the government is dedicated to uncovering illegal wealth and taking strong action against foreign assets that haven't been reported.