ED filed 132 cases against sitting, ex-legislators, politicians: Government in Parliament

New Delhi: A total of 132 money laundering cases have been registered against sitting and former MPs and MLAs apart from political leaders over the last six years, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary shared figures related to the Enforcement Directorate filing enforcement case information reports (ECIRs), cases under trial and convictions as part of a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

He gave a breakup of ECIRs recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against "existing and ex-MPs, MLAs, MLCs and political leaders or anyone affiliated with any political party" between January 1, 2019 to July 31 this year.

As per the reply, the ED filed 15 ECIRs or money laundering cases in 2019 followed by 28 in 2020, 26 in 2021, 34 in 2022, 26 in 2023 and three in 2024 (till July 31).

The reply added that a court trial in these cases was completed in a total of three cases -- one in 2020 and two in 2023.

Only one conviction in these cases was reported to have been made in 2020, as per the reply.