The tenure of Director of the Enforcement Directorate Karnal Singh, who has held the post for about three years and supervised investigations in several important cases of corruption and bank fraud, ends on Sunday. The government is likely to take a call on the next chief on Saturday.
During Mr. Singh’s tenure, the agency has pursued high profile cases involving Vijay Mallya, Punjab National Bank fraudulent LoUs, Panama Papers, AgustaWestland, Sterling Biotech, Coal Block allocations, the PACL scam, NSEL case, Saradha and Rose Valley chit-fund scams, Srijan scam and a large number of bank frauds and demonetisation-related money laundering cases.
Mr. Singh is the second IPS officer (1984 batch) to have held the post of ED Director.
Earlier, only officers from the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Revenue Service were assigned the job.
Staff welfare
Several ED officials on Friday described Mr. Singh’s tenure as the most significant in terms of steps taken for their welfare, particularly promotions. He also ensured that officials in the agency got the special incentive allowance on the lines of their counterparts in the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“He is an able investigator, administrator, leader, mentor and advisor,” said a Deputy Director-level official. The IPS officer was first posted as the Special Director in the Directorate and subsequently, given charge of the agency.
As against attachments worth ₹9,003 crore in 2,045 cases booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act over the past decade, during Mr. Singh’s three-year term, the agency attached assets worth ₹33,563 crore in 536 cases. Attachment of properties worth ₹21,319 crore has already been confirmed, the agency said.
In all, 528 provisional attachment orders were confirmed during the period, as opposed to 355 from July 2005 to March 2015. While 8,452 investigations were initiated, the probe was completed in 5,495 cases compared to 4,725 cases in the past decade.
Dedicated forensic units
Mr. Singh also got six forensic examination units set up for the agency in Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Chennai. The ED officials now get forensic field units for collecting digital evidence. “Earlier, the waiting period for reports from government forensic laboratories used to be one to two years, now we get real-time findings from our own units,” said a senior official.
The IPS officer, who has also headed the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch and the Special Cell, also institutionalised the selection process of officials on deputation with the ED. “About 80% of the recommendations now get rejected during verification by regional zones and a committee set up at ED headquarters. The process has been made more transparent,” said another official.
Although more than 200 officials joined the agency during Mr Singh’s term, the Directorate is currently functioning with less than the half its sanctioned strength of 2,064.
