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The ministry of finance told Parliament that since the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), 2018, came into force, the ED has initiated proceedings against 24 individuals, of whom 13 have been officially declared fugitive economic offenders by special courts
The ministry said that the ED has attached assets worth Rs 34,149.11 crore from these defaulters. Of this, a substantial Rs 17,750.09 crore has already been confiscated and restituted to public sector banks. Representational image
Even as almost a dozen wilful defaulters who fled India failed to pay over Rs 35,000 crore in bank loans, the government has managed to recover and return more than Rs 17,700 crore to public sector banks, the ministry of finance revealed in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Responding to a question from Sushmita Dev, Trinamool Congress MP, the ministry stated that since the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), 2018, came into force, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated proceedings against 24 individuals, of whom 13 have been officially declared fugitive economic offenders by special courts.
Significantly, 11 of these 24 individuals have now been identified as “wilful defaulters”, collectively defaulting on loans to the tune of Rs 35,431.21 crore. “Since the inception of the FEOA Act, in 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated proceedings under FEOA against 24 persons, out of which 13 persons have been declared as Fugitive Economic Offenders by the Special Court, FEOA. Out of these 24 persons, 11 persons are wilful defaulters,” Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state for finance, stated in Parliament.
He added that the ED has attached assets worth Rs 34,149.11 crore from these defaulters. Of this, a substantial Rs 17,750.09 crore has already been confiscated and restituted to public sector banks—a major partial recovery in some of the country’s biggest economic fraud cases. In addition, assets worth Rs 749.89 crore have been confiscated under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act itself.
“The aforesaid 11 wilful defaulters have defaulted on total loans amounting to Rs 35,431.21 crore, out of which the ED has attached assets amounting to Rs 34,149.11 crore. Out of the total attached amount, assets amounting to Rs 15,184.19 crore have been confiscated and restituted to the Public Sector Banks under PMLA, 2002,” the minister stated. “Moreover, in another case, the attached proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 2,565.90 crore have also been restituted to victim banks by the order of the Special Court, PMLA before confiscation. Thus, the total amount of restitution to Public Sector Banks in these cases is Rs 17,750.09 crore. In addition to the above, assets amounting to ₹749.89 crore have been confiscated under FEOA, 2018.”
On the legal front, the minister said that the ED has filed 16 prosecution complaints, including eight supplementary ones, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Extradition processes have been initiated against eight individuals, with approval already granted in two cases.
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