The cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act rose sharply after 2019 when the Union government brought amendments to make the law more stringent, data presented in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday showed.
In a written response, Nityanand Rai, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, said that 188 cases were registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2019.
The number of cases registered under the Act increased to 708 in 2020 and reached 1,166 in 2021, 1,074 in 2022 and 934 in 2023. So far in 2024, authorities have registered 397 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In contrast, 195 cases were registered under the Act in 2014, 148 in 2015 and 170 in 2016. The number was 171 in 2017 and 146 in 2018.
The sharp jump in cases under the Act came after the Centre in 2019 amended the law to make the mere possession of illicit money arising from crime punishable.
It also made the offence of money laundering “a continuing offence, irrespective of [the] time at which the predicate offence is included in the schedule”.
This amendment allowed the government to prosecute crimes that were committed even before the Act was passed, based on the claim that the accused person remains in possession of the illicit money.
The data on Tuesday was presented on a question by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Owaisi had asked the government for data regarding the number of cases registered, and persons convicted and acquitted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act between 2014 and 2024.
He also asked the Union home ministry for the total number of accused persons presently under arrest in both laws.
A total of 5,297 cases were registered between 2014 and 2024 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Rai said in his response. Of this, only 40 cases have resulted in convictions in the past decade.
Rai said that 140 accused persons are currently under arrest under the provisions of the Act.
Under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Centre said that 8,719 cases were registered between 2014 and 2022. Only 222 cases of the total resulted in convictions.
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