Strong Arm of the State
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mocked his adversaries as the 'Khan Market gang', in a damning reference to their supposed love of the tony market complex in central Delhi's Lutyens Bungalow Zone, home to the national capital's high and mighty-politicians, government officials, judges, businessmen In other words, the power elite. Some of the politicos in this line-up are now squirming, as an Enforcement Directorate (ED) 'gang'-operating from, ironically, the very same Khan Market-goes after them for alleged financial misdemeanours. They allege it is a witch-hunt at the behest of the Modi government.
The allegation is that the ED, which investigates foreign exchange violations and money laundering, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launch investigations and slap cases against leaders of BJP rivals just ahead of elections to threaten opponents. The charges are neither new nor novel. In fact, in May 2013, during the Congress-led UPA's rule at the Centre, the Supreme Court called the CBI a 'caged parrot', an all-too-obvious reference to its lack of real autonomy. The ED, in its present avatar, is vying for the same honour, claim Modi's rivals.
The ED, which works under the jurisdiction of the Union finance ministry, was set up in 1957. It acts as per the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002 and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) of 2018. The agency directly recruits at the level of assistant enforcement director and also inducts officers from the customs, income tax and police departments.
The ED is the investigating agency for all offences committed under the PMLA. The law gives the ED powers for criminal prosecution and to attach the assets of the accused. The ambit of the Act was widened through multiple amendments, giving the ED the bite it now possesses. The amendments to the Act made this year have given the ED unprecedented powers-it can arrest an individual even without an FIR. All offences are now cognisable and non-bailable. Under PMLA, a statement recorded before an investigating officer is admissible in court as evidence.
The most recent ED case to make headlines is the summons sent to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in connection with the Rs 2,500 crore loan fraud in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB). The case is based on a Mumbai police FIR registered in August 2019 on the directions of the Bombay High Court. The FIR names the
