New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has earmarked assets worth about Rs 15,000 crore that will be restored to the victims of real estate, Ponzi and other frauds across the country during the current financial year, officials said.
The federal probe agency has begun initiating this provision for restitution of properties, available under the anti-money laundering law, “aggressively” since last year to ensure that legitimate owners and rightful claimants duped by a financial crime get their dues, documents showed.
Till date, as per records accessed by PTI, assets worth a total of Rs 31,951 crore have been restituted under this provision.
Out of this, Rs 15,201.65 crore assets were restituted between 2019-21 in three money laundering cases related to fugitive economic offenders Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi apart from the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case.
In June last year, ED Director Rahul Navin undertook a comprehensive review of all money laundering cases where assets can be restored to the victims of frauds and since then the agency has secured court orders in 32 cases after it filed applications to initiate the restitution procedure, the officials said.
According to the data, between August 2024 and April this year, the ED restored assets of Rs 15,261.15 crore (2024-25 fiscal) and Rs 1,488 crore worth properties during the current fiscal (2025-26).
The officials said the ED chief recently issued directions to all regions of the agency to “actively work on cases marked for restitution of assets worth Rs 15,000 crore during the financial year 2025-26”.
The investigating officers and their supervisory officers have been asked to file special applications before the competent court and follow them up till a final order is issued. More such cases where restitution can be done are being worked upon, the officials said.
Under the existing scheme of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the process to restore the assets of innocent investors can be ordered by competent courts even before the trial is completed in a case. The ED needs to file a chargesheet before the court and it should frame charges against the accused before initiation of restitution proceedings.
Restitution or restoration of assets can be done under section 8(8) of the PMLA which says that if a property has been confiscated by the central government (by the ED), the special court has the power to direct restoration of the confiscated property to a claimant who has a legitimate interest in the property and has suffered a quantifiable loss as a result of an offence of money laundering.
The court while ordering for restitution has to determine that the properties were initially acquired through illicit means but ultimately belong to innocent parties.
“These provisions empower the ED to act swiftly to ensure that legitimate claimants regain control of their assets before the conclusion of the legal process,” an officer working on these cases said.
The said sections have been provided in the PMLA to provide prompt relief to those who lost their hard-earned money in a criminal case of cheating like bank fraud, Ponzi scheme, investment fraud or non-delivery of a promised home by the builder, among others, he said.
As per procedure, the claimants receiving the restitution are required to execute a bond to refund or reimburse the amount, if, directed at any subsequent stage of the proceedings or upon conclusion of the trial.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the campaign for the 2024 general elections, had said that his government will work to “return the money looted from poor people”.
“The prime minister of India has consistently emphasised the urgent need to recover and return funds misappropriated from the poor and innocent citizens of the country and has repeatedly stressed that money siphoned off through fraudulent means must be rightfully restored to those who have been cheated in Ponzi schemes,” a recent government statement on restitution had said.
