According to a reply in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhari, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered 5,422 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), but only 23 persons have been convicted – less than 0.5%. This is nothing short of an indictment by the government of its own investigation agency and calls for special scrutiny by a parliamentary committee.
https://thewire.in/law/ed-low-conviction-rate-caged-parrot-that-cant-get-anyone-to-sing
It is worth finding out whether any investigation agency in any reasonably governed democracy has such a pathetic, almost non-existent conviction rate. But the ED is in the news every day, raiding a politician here, or some businessman there. TV channels report ED raids and investigations ad nauseam, but never pause to ask why its conviction rate is so low.
Is it because securing convictions is never the objective, at all? The goal of the establishment is merely to threaten political rivals, dissenters or media to consolidate its authoritarian powers. The ED is probably just an instrument for securing that limited objective.
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by M.K. Venu
28/07/2022