Efficiency of Enforcement Directorate increased after 2014, says PM Narendra Modi

The efficiency of the Enforcement Directorate increased after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power at the Centre in 2014, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interview on Saturday.

Speaking with Asianet, the prime minister rejected the Opposition’s allegations that the Union government was weaponising the central agencies against them and said the Enforcement Directorate has taken up several cases “without discrimination”.

This comes days after an analysis of official data by PTI showed the agency had registered 5,155 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the last ten years as compared to the 1,797 cases filed in the previous decade. However, it secured conviction orders only in 36 cases, leading to the prosecution of 63 persons.

The prime minister told Asianet that the Enforcement Directorate had filed less than 1,800 cases under the Act before 2014.

“ED was sleeping at that time,” said Modi. “The fact that ED has taken up more than 5,000 cases in the last 10 years since the BJP came to power in 2014 shows their efficiency.”

The prime minister also said that the number of searches conducted has increased from 84 before 2014 to 7,000. He said the agency had seized properties worth Rs 5,000 crore before his party came to power and the amount...

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