DNA Money Edit: After DeMo, ED has a bigger role to play

The Operation Clean Money (OCM) launched by the income-tax department a month after the government carried out the 50-days-long demonetisation has yielded positive results. The drive that began early this year on January 31 has analysed the data of people who deposited large sums of cash and whose returns of income were not in sync with such deposits. As per the government data, 18 lakh suspect cases were identified using data analytics as cash transactions were not in line with the tax profile of several depositors in the first phase of OCM.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been on its toes and has managed to attach Rs 9,000 crore worth of black money, primarily riding on the DeMo data. The department has registered 3,700 cases under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and also taken action against 1,000 shell companies. There is a 158% increase in searches to 1,152 groups from 447 earlier.

Under the PMLA, a criminal law, the ED is empowered to conduct investigations to trace assets derived out of the proceeds of crime, and provisionally attach/confiscate the same. It is also empowered to arrest and prosecute the offenders found to be involved in money laundering. More power given to ED is making life miserable for those who indulged in black money and illicit fund trails. But the government needs to ensure that ED doesn't trouble the innocent taxpayers.