Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while replying to a debate on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Lok Sabha, that the Enforcement Directorate has returned properties valued at Rs 22,280 crore to the victims or legitimate claimants who also declared that the war against economic criminals will not stop.
This includes the recovery to many banks of more than Rs 14,000 crore from the sale of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya’s assets and Rs 1,053 crore from diamond merchant Nirav.
Properties worth Rs 1,052.58 crore have been returned to private banks and PSBs in the Nirav Modi case. Properties valued at Rs 2,565.90 crore have been linked to the Mehul Choksi case and will be put up for sale. She added that
Properties valued at Rs 17.47 crore were returned to the legitimate investors who had been duped in the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) case.
“…So it is important to recognize that we have not left anybody (committing) economic offences. We are after them. We will be making sure that money, which has got to go back to banks, will go back,” Sitharaman said.
Regarding foreign black money, the minister stated that many taxpayers are being deterred by the Black Money Act of 2015 and are coming forward to reveal their foreign holdings on their own.
She informed that actions were taken in 120 cases related to material obtained through a variety of leaks, including the ICIJ, HSBC, Paradise, and Panama Papers. Additionally, in 582 cases, hidden revenue of Rs 33,393 crore was found.
