Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Rahul Naveen has asked all units of the federal financial crimes investigation agency to exercise “caution, fairness and accountability” while conducting money laundering investigations, stressing judicious use of the vast legal powers available to officers.
The superior officer directed ED staff to ensure that summonses and other legal notices are issued “judiciously,” based on “clear necessity and sound application of mind.”
The directions were issued during the 34th Quarterly Conference of District Officers of the Executive Directorate, which was held from February 19 to 21 in Guwahati. The meeting was chaired by Naveen and attended by all senior officials, including special directors, joint directors, additional directors and deputy directors.
“The discussions stressed that the focus should be on meaningful achievement of objectives, logical conclusion of investigations, timely filing of prosecution complaints, and ensuring that detention and sanctions are legally sustainable and effectively implemented,” the CEO said in a statement.
“The conference emphasized that with the significant statutory powers available under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), comes a corresponding responsibility to exercise them with caution, integrity and accountability. It was advised that officers must remain aware of the impact of enforcement actions and ensure that subpoenas and other legal notices are issued judiciously, based on clear necessity and sound application of mind,” the agency added.
The CEO stressed that he had set a goal of filing 500 judicial complaints in the current financial year, “and urged all field formations to make concerted efforts to achieve this, while also preparing for an enhanced target in the next financial year.”
“The need for this enhanced goal is to proactively conclude long-overdue investigations and systematically reduce the life cycle of new investigations to a reasonable time frame of one or two years, except in exceptionally complex cases,” he added.
Naveen also identified priority areas that require a focused and coordinated approach across all regions.
According to the directorate’s statement, “All district heads have been directed to intensify efforts in tracking and securing proceeds of crime hidden abroad, especially in jurisdictions such as Dubai and Singapore.”
Officials were asked to use international cooperation channels, financial intelligence inputs and analysis of cross-border money flows to identify class structures and beneficial ownership behind offshore assets.
Likewise, teams were instructed to look for potential collusion between debtor companies, resolution specialists, members of committees of creditors (CoCs) and other stakeholders; Prioritizing investigations into digital detention cases, especially those involving organized gangs, cross-border elements and large-scale victims; Focus on dismantling the financial networks behind illegal betting platforms, including payment gateways, illicit accounts and third-party operators; targeting the financial networks of organized drug gangs; Conduct detailed financial and forensic analysis of schemes involving artificial inflation of stock prices, ring trading and the use of shell entities to launder proceeds through the stock market; and examining suspicious cross-border financial flows linked to anti-national activities.
The agency also advised officers to make use of mechanisms like Interpol and local platform Bharatpol to issue colour-coded notices, especially purple notices. The Purple Notice issued by Interpol is intended to seek or provide information on the modus operandi, objects, devices and methods of concealment used by criminals.
The officers have also been directed to complete the disposal of all pending cases registered under the now-repealed Foreign Exchange Regulatory Act (FERA) by March 31.
Challenges related to delays, obtaining penalties for prosecution, lack of police cooperation in some states, limited manpower, logistical constraints in remote areas, lack of digital land records, and valuation issues associated with volatile digital assets were also discussed, the statement said.
He added that officers were encouraged to make full use of official channels for cooperation with foreign countries, including mutual legal assistance treaty requests, rogatory letters, and extradition operations.
“The value of building direct professional relationships with foreign law enforcement counterparts was highlighted, as early informal engagement often facilitates faster intelligence sharing and ultimately a smooth transition to formal requests, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the Executive Directorate in dealing with cross-border money laundering and asset recovery cases,” the agency said.
