New DelhiThe Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recovered assets worth around $5.6 billion (Rs).
“Rs 52,329 crore” for money laundering victims, agency chief Rahul Naveen said on Monday at a GlobE network steering committee meeting in Delhi.
Naveen said a major portion of these recoveries were made in the last two years, according to the ED statement.
The senior official made the remarks at the three-day steering committee meeting of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcements (GlobE Network) – a global platform of anti-corruption law enforcement authorities established under the Riyadh Initiative during Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency.
The platform enables direct collaboration at the practitioner level between member agencies to investigate, prosecute and recover the proceeds of corruption. The meeting will be held in Delhi from March 23 to 25.
According to the statement, Naveen highlighted the complementary roles of the two member agencies in India: the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the nodal anti-corruption investigative and prosecution agency in India, and the Enforcement Director as the agency mandated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to trace, restrict, confiscate and recover the proceeds of crime.
He stressed that asset recovery was not just an afterthought, but rather the true measure of enforcement success within the modern anti-corruption framework stipulated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Section 8(8) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act enables the Special Court to direct the government to return confiscated property to a plaintiff who has a legitimate interest in the property and who may have suffered a loss due to laundering of the accused’s money.
Some of the cases in which the department has returned the proceeds of crime to banks or investors include those against fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, and diamond makers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi ( $Rs 15,000 crore returned to banks in these three cases), investigations against several construction companies and Ponzi schemes.
Between 2014 and 2025, the directorate registered 6,508 cases under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and 1,135 individuals were arrested. It has also attached assets worth around Rs 1.85 crore.
Navin acknowledged the practical value of GlobE’s tools for Indian investigators, specifically pointing to the assistance provided by Spain in a case where information exchanged over the network “directly led to the restriction of assets through official channels.”
In his speech, CBI Director Pravin Sood emphasized that corruption today “transcends national borders, is sophisticated, and is increasingly enabled by technology, making international cooperation not a matter of choice but an absolute necessity.”
The CEO’s statement said Sood called on all member agencies to actively engage with the CBI, share actionable intelligence, and take full advantage of available cooperation mechanisms.
