Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Rahul Navin has instructed all field units to exercise “caution, fairness and accountability” while conducting money-laundering investigations, underscoring the need for judicious use of the agency’s extensive statutory powers.
Navin advised officers to issue summons and statutory notices only when there is “clear necessity and proper application of mind”, stressing that enforcement actions must be carefully considered and legally sound.
The directives were issued during the ED’s 34th quarterly conference of zonal officers, held from February 19 to 21 in Guwahati. The three-day meeting, chaired by Navin, was attended by senior officials including special directors, joint directors, additional directors and deputy directors.
According to an official statement, discussions focused on achieving meaningful targets, ensuring logical closure of investigations, timely filing of prosecution complaints and making sure that attachments and penalties withstand legal scrutiny and are effectively realised. The agency reiterated that with significant powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) comes a corresponding responsibility to act with restraint and fairness.
The ED has set a target of filing 500 prosecution complaints in the current financial year. All field formations were urged to work collectively to meet this goal and prepare for an even higher target next year. The agency said the aim is to proactively conclude long-pending cases and reduce the lifecycle of new investigations to one to two years, except in exceptionally complex matters.
Navin also outlined priority areas requiring coordinated action across zones. Zonal heads were directed to intensify efforts to trace and secure proceeds of crime parked abroad, particularly in jurisdictions such as Dubai and Singapore. Officers were asked to make greater use of international cooperation channels, financial intelligence inputs and cross-border fund flow analysis to uncover layering structures and beneficial ownership of offshore assets.
The agency further instructed teams to probe potential collusion involving corporate debtors, resolution professionals and members of committees of creditors; prioritise investigations into digital arrest scams with organised and cross-border elements; dismantle financial networks behind illegal betting platforms; and target the funding channels of organised drug syndicates. Detailed financial and forensic scrutiny was also advised in cases involving artificial stock price inflation, circular trading, shell entities and suspicious cross-border flows linked to anti-national activities.
Officers were encouraged to use global cooperation mechanisms such as Interpol and the domestic platform Bharatpol, particularly for issuing colour notices like purple notices, which help share information on criminals’ modus operandi and concealment techniques.
Additionally, officials were directed to complete adjudication of all pending cases under the now-repealed Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) by March 31.
The conference also addressed operational challenges, including delays in prosecution sanctions, non-cooperation by police in certain states, manpower shortages, logistical hurdles in remote areas, lack of digitised land records and valuation issues related to volatile digital assets.
The ED emphasised the importance of strengthening formal and informal international cooperation through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty requests, letters rogatory and extradition proceedings. Building direct professional relationships with foreign enforcement agencies, the statement noted, can accelerate intelligence sharing and improve the effectiveness of cross-border money-laundering and asset recovery efforts.
