ED achieves 94.82% conviction rate in money-laundering cases at end of 2025

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) achieved 94.82% conviction rate in money-laundering cases involving 123 accused persons as on December 31, 2025, according to the Union government’s reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Of the 58 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the 123 accused had been convicted by special courts in 55 cases, the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written response to the queries of Member Ramji Lal Suman. The ED has secured conviction in 43 PMLA cases since 2020-21, wherein 104 accused have been convicted.

The ED recorded 5,158 cases for initiating investigation under the PMLA since 2020-21 till December 2025, when the total number of money-laundering cases registered since inception stood at 8,391. The agency filed prosecution complaints in 1,960 cases. Since August 2019, when the provision for filing a closure report was introduced, the ED has filed closure reports in 93 cases. The reasons included closure of scheduled offence cases, quashing of predicate offence case, and the predicate offence court finding that the predicate offence had no link with any provision under the PMLA.

“Prior to the aforesaid amendment (i.e., before August 1, 2019), cases where no money-laundering offence was made out were closed with the prior approval of regional Special Director of Enforcement. As such, since the inception of the PMLA, i.e., July 1, 2005, up to July 31, 2019; 1,185 cases were closed,” the reply stated.

It said the ED follows a multi-pronged approach for registering a case based on money-laundering risks and threats, and by examining information received through several sources. After completion of investigation, a prosecution complaint is filed before the special court.

“Efforts have been made to fast-track investigations and conclude cases efficiently through the enhanced use of technology which includes optimum use of national and international databases, forensic tools, artificial intelligence, OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) techniques and digital resources to strengthen evidence collection, improve analytical capabilities, and expedite complex financial crime investigations,” the reply said.