ED restores properties worth Rs 22 280 cr to banks legitimate claimants Sitharaman

    New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Enforcement Directorate has restored properties worth Rs 22,280 crore to the victims or rightful claimants and asserted that the fight against economic offenders will continue unabated.
     Replying to a debate on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Lok Sabha, she said Rs 14,131.6 crore worth properties belonging to fugitive Vijay Mallya have been restored to public sector banks.
     As regards the Nirav Modi case, properties to the tune of Rs 1,052.58 crore have been restored to PSBs and private banks.
     In the Mehul Choksi case, properties worth Rs 2,565.90 crore have been attached and will be auctioned.
     In the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) case, Rs 17.47 crore worth properties were restored to the genuine investors who were defrauded.
     "On the PMLA, ED has successfully restored properties valued at least Rs 22,280 crore from major cases... We have not left anyone, even if they fled the country, we've gone after them. ED has collected this money and given back to the banks.
     "...So it is important to recognize that we have not left anybody (committing) economic offences. We are after them. We will be making sure that money, which has got to go back to banks, will go back," Sitharaman said.
     With regard to foreign black money, the minister said the Black Money Act of 2015 is actually having a deterrent effect on a lot of taxpayers and they come forward on their own to disclose their foreign assets.
     She said the number of taxpayers disclosing foreign assets has gone up to 2 lakh in 2024-25, from 60,467 in 2021-22.
     Under the Act, as of June 2024, demand of more than Rs 17,520 crore has been raised in 697 cases. Total 163 prosecutions have been launched.
     Sitharaman further said action has been taken by the government to tax unaccounted and undisclosed foreign assets. Investigation of HSBC, ICIJ, Panama, Paradise and Pandora leak-related cases is being done.
     In connection with information received through various leaks like Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Pandora Papers, HSBC and ICIJ leak, actions were undertaken in 120 cases.
     Further, undisclosed income of Rs 33,393 crore has been detected in 582 cases.
     A Multi-Agency Group (MAG), consisting of representatives from various enforcement agencies, has been set up by the government for expeditious and coordinated investigation of various categories of foreign asset cases, she added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)