New Delhi: The enforcement directorate has recovered an estimated 180 billion dollars in the past five years from economic offenders and fugitives, particularly after the Narendra Modi government passed the Economic Offenders Act in 2018, claimed Union minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions Dr Jitendra Singh.
The minister was speaking on the sidelines of the G20 workshop on anti-corruption, which commenced in Gurugram this week.
Singh said the present government is pursuing economic offenders aggressively and all efforts are being made to ensure that no offender is able to game the system and benefit from corruption at the cost of the exchequer.
The minister, who was briefing the media after the inaugural session of the G20 workshop, said the objective of the event is to collaborate with partner countries and agencies and develop a framework to curb corruption, and prevent people from siphoning off public money.
“In the past four to five years, the enforcement directorate has been able to recover 180 billion dollars from economic offenders after this government started pursuing these individuals seriously,” said Singh, adding that the total financial frauds committed by such offenders was estimated to be around 272 billion dollars.
The minister said a sling of reforms such as direct benefits transfer, government marketplace portal, and other digital tools have been put in place to curb corruption in the public sphere.
Delegates from G20 countries, 10 associate countries and nine organizations are participating in the anti-corruption workshop, which will conclude on March 3.
Singh said partnerships are being forged between participating countries to ensure that fugitives are caught, and their ill-gotten wealth seized by the states, including India.
